The Punishment of Adalard
by IflarFan
Summary: Jake ventures into the Mipedian desert with his friend, Corinne, to find a mysterious castle that she heard about from Taffial. Then, he encounters a beautiful Mipedian ghost, and in order to live, is forced to take the punishment of Adalard, to satisfy her endless years of misery and pain. However, he also has to deal with a whole other different life on Earth!
1. Chapter 1: Jake

My life is anything but ordinary.

I thought that it was, before I went Chaotic that is.

I used to play a lot online, that's probably because I was the "new kid" at my new high school, John East High. Everyone made fun of me because I was Japanese. I moved to America just last year; to the small and yet dangerous town of Duninton. Duninton is known for being the best spot for seeing tall skyscrapers in the middle of all the crops, for the other towns around it were farming towns. But one day they decided to tear down these buildings because they planned to make bigger ones. But this task was never accomplished.

And every day, the sky is always gray, even though it hardly ever rains in Duninton.

I remember the first day when I went to John East High; it was in the middle of the first semester.

"This is Jake Kurosawa," said Mr. Stevens in his gruff, hoarse voice, "be nice." And he went to his chair, sat down, and coughed.

I was standing there like the fool I was. Everyone laughed. They were mostly white, but there were a few Asians, but I didn't notice it at first. I thought what was weird is that all the girls sat on the boys' laps, sideways, with their legs around their waists. At my school, normally the girls and boys were separate, not that we hated each other, it's just that we had different interests.

"Hey boy!" a girl in a somewhat revealing black jumpsuit with messy blond hair woke me up, "Sit down, you look like a fool!"

So I looked around and found this pretty girl in the back with green hair with glasses, not paying any attention and reading a book. I sat down next to her and she simply just said to me, "Don't pay any attention to those-"and the next words that she said to me surprised me for her shy nature. And her cheeks turned a bright pink, and my face felt hot somehow.

And every day when I got home from school, I went on the computer to play Chaotic. We had many trading card games in Japan, like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokémon, but they never really got my attention as much as Chaotic has. But at first I thought that the Americans were just trying to copy the way of the Japanese so that more people will buy their product. But when I actually started to play it, it was really a lot of fun!

I loved how they use many different creatures, elements, attacks, and mugic. I was fascinated. I soon looked on Wikipedia, and found out that it was originally a Danish trading card game. So my opinion of Chaotic changed quickly.

Once I found out that Chaotic was a real place, I was depressed. Most of my friends, like Corinne, thought that it was a pleasure to escape reality and enjoy the good food (which I thought was pretty bad, actually) from the Port Court and watch people play matches.

My grandma once said, "You cannot escape trouble, no matter how far you run." I always believed that, so unlike the other Chaotic players who decide to escape reality, I always ported to Earth to have a normal life, and then ported to Chaotic again every day.

Last summer, Mitsu (the girl I met the first day) and I have been dating. I never told her about Chaotic, I was too embarrassed. I was afraid that she would think that I am too old for that stuff, my mother thinks so. She said she would throw all of my Chaotic cards away, but I hid them.

Now they barely sell Chaotic cards anywhere, I looked everywhere. There is only this little shop called, "Kathy's Gifts and Cards." It's a cute nice little white shop between all these huge gray, old, abandoned stores. I go there every day after school on my way home to see if Fire and Stone came out yet. But Kathy's granddaughter Stacy told me that there is no new news of it yet.

I ported back to Chaotic, and decided to go to Perim, a beautiful place like none I've ever seen. The wonderful bright Mipedian Desert (I've never been to a desert before), the lightshow at Lake Ken-I-Po (but Corinne told me that's a bad thing), the giant Mount Pillar, and the bright red Lava Pond were all part of my life, but it was unlike the ugly gray Duninton.

I decided to go to the Forest of Life, and meet up with Corinne, she said she found this weird creature and I forgot what it was called. I ran though the many trees; they were a blur of green and brown.

OOF!

My side started to hurt; I think my hands were bleeding, but I looked at them and they were just covered in dirt, but they felt horrible. I looked back at the log I tripped on. It was pretty big, so I don't know how I couldn't have saw it, but then I got up and wiped away the dirt and looked for my scanner, for I knew that it fell out of my back pocket. I looked around, and found it part way under the same log that I tripped on, and found that I had scanned a card I've never seen before. I picked it up, and I couldn't believe it.

I thought I was dreaming, so I rubbed my eyes.

But it was still there.

I was horrified. . . .


	2. Chapter 2: The Scan

Me. . . . The scan. . . . was. . . . of . . . . me?

I dropped my scanner. I tried my best not to panic, but I couldn't help staring into the card that had my name on it, and breathing heavily. I rubbed my eyes. There had to be a mistake. I'm not a creature, am I? I looked down at myself, just in case if I haven't got infected or turned into a creature or anything like that.

I looked fine. I looked normal. I looked. . . . just like I did, 3 seconds ago.

But I still couldn't stop looking at myself, just waiting for the transformation. Or, maybe I have powers, just like creatures.

"Rock wave!" I yelled, "Supercooled rain!" I yelled after that, "Para-eyes! Ultimate Warstance! Pebble Storm!" I kept on yelling random attacks until I realized that everything I yelled did absolutely nothing. But maybe I was doing it wrong, maybe I have to act like I'm trying to actually DO the attacks.

So, I kicked and punched and yelled more random attacks. Nothing happened.

I felt like a fool. Well, I am one, after all.

Then I looked at my scanner, just to see my stats. They were super low.

It said on it: Jake (although it seemed like there was a faded name behind it, something that started with an "A" and something with a "lar," but I don't know), Courage: 15 (but I felt that that was pretty right, as much as I hate to admit it. . . .), Power: 10 (I can't do much), Wisdom: 5. . . . 5?!

I threw my scanner onto the ground and started stomping it with my foot. "I'M NOT THAT DUMB! YOU HEAR ME!" I screamed at my scanner while I started jumping on it with all my might.

After that, I cooled off. I sat down, looking at my (somewhat broken) scanner. Then, I finally came up with the conclusion.

"Ah, it's probably just a mistake," I said as I deleted it, "Oh, that's right, I have to meet up with Corinne!" As I rushed towards our usual meeting spot, I heard someone laughing.

"Who's there?" I asked with caution, getting ready to fight with the mysterious creature.

There was no answer. But, as I turned around, ACK! I fell to the ground.

It was only Corinne.

"It's just me, silly!" she said as she helped me up.

Uh-oh.

Did she see me yelling attacks and pretending like I'm a creature? Is that why she laughed? So, I asked, "Uh, uh. . . . Did you. . . . was it YOU? Who laughed? At me?" "No, why would I do such a thing? You're a nice person!" she said.  
"But, I just heard. . . . just now. . . ."  
"I didn't laugh, I swear. I just ported here a second ago."  
"Then. . . . who. . .?"  
"Oh, it was probably just your imagination! Let's go find Iparu! I need a scan of him for my next match with. . . ."

And we walked off and talked more, but I could have sworn as we were walking away, I heard that exact same laugh again. I looked back, and thought I saw a blue figure somewhere hiding in the trees. I blinked and it was gone.

"What's the matter, Jake?" Corinne interrupted. "Oh, it's nothing," I said as we talked more.


	3. Chapter 3: The Dark Castle

"Hey, Jake," said Corinne, "You know what?"

I was exhausted. "No. What?"

"You're not interested!"

"Yeah. (Yawn.) I mean, no, I am!"

"Fine! I won't tell you what I found out from Taffial!"

Corinne was friends with Taffial. And sometimes, he would tell her more about his findings, because he knew how big of a history fan she was. But if he told what he found to her, and ONLY her, it must be something important, or secretive, for she is a really good secret keeper.

"No! I want to know! Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeeee!"

"Ok, check this out! Taffial said that he found a weird castle-thing somewhere in the Mipedian Desert. At first, he thought it was a mirage, but he went closer and found out that it was real. He was there with only three other Mipedians, and they wanted to go check it out, but he told them not to go in there, but they did."

She then creepily smiled.

"Taffial waited and waited for a long time, staring at the dark castle, too scared to look for his friends inside. Then, he heard a scream within the castle, then, another. He was about to go into the castle, but found a dark figure approaching him from within the darkness; it was only one of his Mipedian friends, only one, and he was shaking in fear, he could barely stand, Taffial said he was all covered in scars and spewing fountains of dark crimson blood, everywhere, then he-"

That was going too far. (She was spending chills down my spine.)

"Whoa! Whoa! Wait a minute. . . . Did Taffial tell you ALL this? Or are you making that story up?"

Her face turned normal again. "Wait, he did tell me that, but I'm not done with the story."

"Ugh. Continue."

"Ok, then, he kept on mentioning the name, 'Odille. . . . Odille. . . .' Then he-" She stopped. And then, she looked down solemnly. But then she quickly looked up and laughed. "He's fine! I think he probably forgot about it by now!"

"No, I don't think so," I told her, "I don't even think half of the things you told me were even true!"

"Well, but I heard that this 'Odille' is a mysterious Mipedian ghost that dwells in the castle," Corinne said.

Ghost?

"So. . . . like that Owacky right?" I asked.

"OWAYKI! Geez! But yes, that is correct. Odille haunts the dark castle, waiting for a willing victim to come and enter, so she can kill him!"

". . . .Owacky does that?"

"No. But are coming or not?"

"You're actually GOING there?! Are you crazy? Didn't you just tell me that pretty much whoever goes in there gets practically KILLED?!"

"What? Are you scared?"

"NO! What makes you think that I'm scared because I'm not!"

"Good. Then meet me tomorrow at seven."


	4. Chapter 4: The Loss

My eyes scanned up the dark, tall building, it seemed like it was going on forever, reaching the clouds and beyond.

It towered over us, blocking the bright Mipedian sun. It was still a little warm, but as we got closer and closer and feel this ice cold breeze, as if it was coming from the castle itself.

It was dead silent. There was no sound coming from anywhere in the desert, not even one thing scurrying about in the brush. But there were no brushes here. Not one single form of plant. Just sand. Or. . . . maybe it isn't sand. It seemed more like dirt. Every step we took was hard on the ground, not soft and feels like we were going to have our shoes stuck in the nice sand.

It seemed so different here, not Mipedian at all. There were clouds, a lot of clouds. Dark ones. Everything seemed so. . . . dark.

And the gothic castle made it no different.

It did not belong to the Mipedian territories. It looked like it should be Gothos Tower version 2 instead.

Chills went through my spine. Someone made a death piercing scream inside the castle. I was scared to take another step. Images of the bloody Mipedians crawling out of the doors yelling, "Odille! Odille!" ran through my mind. This, this was the exact spot were some of them died. I did not see any stains of blood anywhere on the ground.

I could feel myself shaking, shivering. I wanted to stop. But, I didn't, it felt like something was, inviting me in. Somehow, I couldn't resist. It felt so familiar and yet different, so frightening and yet lovable.

It was too scary to think about, but I could feel this eerie presence inside the castle. But, this mysterious presence somehow, felt, felt similar to me, like I knew this. . . . is it a person or a monster? I couldn't tell, but it was like both. . . .

We got near the entrance, two, large doors that were darker than black, with two handles the size of a child's head attached. They were dusty, and all covered with spider webs, and silver. . . .

Wait! Silver?!

I took a closer look, they weren't rusty at all, it was like if they were new! And old!

I looked at Corinne. She didn't say anything. I saw her determination in her eyes, she wanted to find out what's inside that castle. And knowing her, nothing's going to stop her. I sighed.

"W-what if they're, l-l-locked?" I asked

"How can they be locked if Taffial's allies got in there?" she shot back.

"Oh yeah. . . ." I said to myself, doubting that my wish will come true.

Thinking about haunted houses, I remembered that in all the horror movies I saw, whenever you opened the doors and go in, they are automatically closed. When I imagined myself in a situation like that, I should put a sturdy rock or something in between so that they won't close on me. The only problem was, there were no rocks. Anywhere! I looked around, and saw nothing but dirt. No trees, no nothing. Just dirt.

I'd rather be in the Oasis dealing with the guards, I thought to myself.

I am glad that I only played with Overworlders. Ahh, the nice Overworld, no hot deserts, no scary castles. . . . Oh! Speaking of which! I quickly took out my blue scanner and scanned the castle.

But then, when I looked on my scanner, it was the same. No scan.

Then. . . . the screen got all fuzzy, and more fuzzy. I dropped it. Something was wrong with my scanner!

"Come on, Jake! We don't have all day!" I heard Corinne yell at me.

"There's something wrong with-"

"Yeah! Yeah! Save your excuses for later!"

I picked up my scanner, tried to turn it off, but the screen was still all fuzzy. So, I just put it in my pocket and asked Corinne, "Hey. . . . Corinne. . . . Why don't you scan this place? You know, since we're here?"

"LISTEN! JAKE! I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS CASTLE SO YOU PROMISE ME- NO SCANS! AND WHEN WE GET BACK, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT- ABOUT EVERYTHING- YOU HEAR?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, and then turned around towards the doors.

IF we get back, I thought.

CREEEEEEEEEKKKKK!

I jumped. Something was making that noise. Then, before my eyes, I saw the right door trying to push aside the left, and POP! It slowly creaked open in front of us, like it was welcoming us in.

This never happened in the horror movies. I was more frightened than ever as I followed Corinne into the dark void.

I wished there was a light or something, because I couldn't see. What time was it anyway? It had must have been still in the middle of the day. I wished that we had flash lights.

I wished that Taffial was here with us; but he, he's smart. He knows not to go to the scary castle and stay home in his nice cozy house. Well, if he has one. I don't know that much about him.

I then heard something. I then saw a whole line of candles light up, one right after another, bang bang bang bang bang bang!

Corinne did not say one word and continued to follow the lights' path down the crimson hallway. Did Taffial give her directions or something? Why was she acting so- not scared? And she seemed to know where she was going. . . .

Suddenly, we walked into a large room, a domed room. There were no candles in this room.

BAM! We covered our eyes with our arms to keep out the bright light. Then, our eyes adjusted to it, and we saw a huge chandelier hanging above our heads, lighting up the room.

It was a ballroom. Along the roof, there were paintings of majestic dragons flying from where the chandelier hung to the other decorated arches. And along the walls, were sort of the same style of the dragons on the ceiling, except they were flying freely, and there were some smaller Mipedians on the sand. This was a very weird, Mipedian styled gothic. And, the floor was the most amazing part. It was a shiny gold, shimmering the light shown from the chandelier.

"Wow. . . ." whispered Corinne, "This is AMAZING. . . ."

But. . . . something was. . . . . wrong. It felt like I sensed that same presence again.

Except. . . . it was in the room.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I heard Corinne scream, and she fell through a hole that suddenly appeared from the ground.

We've gotten into a trap!

I quickly looked up and the chandelier was shaking and was creaking. All the lights went out from it and I ran as fast as I could to where we came from. I made it safely under the arch of the hallway, and behind me, I heard the chandelier crashing into the tile.

I decided to run toward the front door, surely it was open. I followed the candles along the long hallway. But I couldn't look anymore; I looked down, sprinting to escape this horrid place!

As I ran I noticed that the floor was checkered, and every green tile I saw, it seemed like there was an eye in each one, blinking and staring at me with its thin long pupil. I could hear it laughing at me.

"NO!" I screamed.

A bright light.

The exit.

Yes, I finally made it to the exit, I'm safe! I can go back home! I saw the desert before my eyes! Yes! And as I finally made it. . . .

BANG!

I ran into something! I rubbed my nose, I could feel it bleeding. I held it, and opened my eyes.

I was back on that checkered floor. On all the bright green tiles, I saw that one big eye, blinking, and still laughing.

I quickly turned around. Where was the exit? The door? I looked up. Both doors were shut.

I jumped up, banging on the doors with all my might! Trying harder and harder to get away. But that eye seemed to be coming closer and closer.

". . . . Jake," I heard the eye, it said my name!

"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME?!" I screamed. I could feel my tears running down from my eyes. I couldn't take it anymore! I just wanted to go home! I reached for my scanner, and pressed the button. Pressed it again. Pressed it again. But then. . . . it flew out of my hands and into one of the hallways.

I followed that ice cold breeze down the hallway where my scanner was. More candles lit up as I was running, chasing after my scanner. Another bright light came before me. I was in a dining room.

My scanner was there, lying on a long, dining table. It looked like no one touched it in centuries. Covered in cobwebs, the cloth all rotten and gross.

I was tired. I felt like sitting down in one of those padded chairs, but I was to afraid to.

But. . . . what was that light coming from?

I looked to the right. A fireplace. I saw the fire burning on the wood, making those nice, cackling sounds. I went up to it and warmed my hands. It was so warm. . . .

Then I quickly ran for my scanner. But it wasn't there anymore.

Maybe. . . . this eye knows something. Maybe, it could talk. Maybe, it could get me out of here.

"HEY!" I yelled, "CAN YOU HELP ME OUT? AND WHERE IS MY FRIEND? CORINNE? PLEASE I BEG OUT YOU! LET US OUT!"

Then, I heard a creak from a door behind me. It was slightly open. That door looked pretty creepy. It had a broken handle, it was a ghostly white, and more cobwebs were from the top to the bottom, and some were swaying with the cold breeze coming from within. I was scared to think what was inside it. Inside the little crack, was dark.

I took a few steps at a time, trying to stay calm, knowing that there's nowhere to run. And as I made it to the door, I was about to quickly grab the door handle to open it, but was to afraid to. It was dead silence in there. I hesitated for a long while, and then my hand grabbed hold on to the door handle. I held it tight, shut my eyes, and opened the door.

It was black.

I could not see a thing. I decided to go inside and the first step I took, I stepped onto something. It felt not so hard. But I had to see what it was. I had to know what the eye wanted to show me. So, without thinking about a thing, I grabbed one part of the thing and dragged it towards the light where I could see it. And when it finally touched the light, I knew what it was.

A corpse.

I jumped away from it, then I examined it from afar, it looked like a new body. Tortured obviously. It's eyes were black voids, blood dripping out like tears, arms and legs cut off, and blood coming from out of them as well. The shirt was torn, and the shorts were ripped. Her hair was a dark blue, but now a violet from stained blood.

Corinne.

". . . . She's now dead." I heard a soft, faint voice behind me say.


	5. Chapter 5: Punishment

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed.

Who- or what, said that?

I looked behind me, and at first, it was blurry, like a white mist. But, then, from the mist, a body appeared. It was in a dark violet dress, with white frills on the edges. The sleeves came apart to show the light purple frills covering the hands and lower part of the arms, but connected by a bow. And on top of the dress, the neck was covered by a cloth around the neck, with a rose that is different shades of violets, white, and pink. And at the bottom of the dress, the pink dress under that shown, it also has white frills along the edges. A head then formed, and it was that of a female Mipedian.

I saw more of her features now. She had a small snout, and I knew that she must have had a slender neck under that cloth. Her skin was a very, very pale blue. She had a scar under her right eye. She opened her eyes, and they were a beautiful bright yellow with some shades of orange. But if you looked into the light differently, they looked yellow with some shades of light green. The pupil was long and thin; just like the one on the tile!

It was her eye!

But I examined her more, and she had no legs, nor feet, just floating blue mist, under that dress. And behind her, was her long flowing silver hair.

"She's now dead, I said," the Mipedian girl spoke.

I didn't know what to say. I was scared, confused, and exhausted. This was all going too fast for me. I thought about it for a while, then stared at the corpse that was. . . . Corinne.

I never saw anyone die in my whole life. Only in movies, or pictures, but nothing was worse compared to this.

And that, that was my friend. . . . I let her die. I couldn't believe this. It was her fault! HER FAULT FOR MY FRIEND'S DEATH!

So, I asked her, "Why. . . . why did you do this?"

"Well," she started, in her almost emotionless and yet sweet voice, "Her body isn't beautiful enough to use."

"How. . . ?"

"Can't you see? She's HIDEOUS!"

"Well, I see what you mean, but. . . . What do you mean by USE?"

"I COULD have taken over her body and just find you, in since she is a woman, after all. But, she isn't pretty enough, so, I just destroyed her."

Who was this freak?

"Who. . . . or what. . . . are you?" I asked, cautiously, not knowing what could happen next. And what did she mean, to find me?

"My name, is Odille. I used to be a Mipedian royal. I was a princess," she said. Then she sighed and looked down. "It's horrible that we have four separate tribes, don't you think?" she asked.

I didn't know what to say, Odille? Mipedian princess? She had must have been a past Mipedian princess, considering that she was a ghost who dwelled in this gloomy castle. Speaking of ghost. . . . how did she die? If she wasn't a queen, that means, that either her siblings could have taken the throne. . . . or. . . . she died before she could have been married.

But I couldn't sit here and think about some Mipedian! I had to get home! I had to tell Taffial about what happened here at the castle! I have to warn everyone about it! But. . . . but. . . . this Mipedian. . . . now, this Mipedian was beautiful. I can't stop staring at her. I want to learn more about her. . . .

"Jake," she then started, "I know you love me, I can tell in your eyes."

Love her? A MIPEDIAN? No. She's got it all wrong. But then again. . . .

"Jake, there's something I need to tell yo-"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT! First off, how did you know my name?! And second, I do not love you whatsoever! You are a Mipedian! You can't tell me what I-"

I looked down and there was a sharp blade on my neck. Odille slowly moved it across, making a crimson line. I looked back at her in fear.

"You cannot leave here, you made a pact with me," she said to me in a calm tone.

A pact? What pact?

"You were wishing in your heart to survive, and so I let you. But, now, you have to do something for me in return. . . ."

"I'm listening. . . ." I said, staring at the sharp end of the blade, covered in blood.

"I was trapped. I was trapped in here my a very cruel creature. The creature who. . . . murdered me."

I was still staring at the blade, but listening to her words, hoping that I will survive.

"The creature who murdered me. . . . his name was. . . . Adalard."

Adalard?! I heard that name somewhere before? Like if I saw it written somewhere! But I couldn't remember where. . . .

"Now, listen very carefully. To set me free from this curse, someone has to take upon himself the punishment for the sins that Adalard had committed," she looked at me in the eye, "But, I can force you to take the punishment. Or else, I won't let you leave here- alive."

I looked at the blade, then I looked at her face. She was truly beautiful. I looked at her bright yellow eyes, which seemed to be gleaming from the fire, making her eyes have an orange glow. And her skin looked almost white, but the shadows were a soft blue. Somehow she, was right. I did love her somehow.

"If, you agree to take the punishment, I will also let you go from the castle. However, you cannot tell anyone of my existence, and you have to come back to this very castle every day to take the punishment of Adalard," Odille said.

"And if I don't go according to your rules?"

"Then," she chuckled, "then, I will make sure you regret it."

I swallowed. I didn't even want to think about what she could do to me, looking at Corinne. I looked back at Odille. So beautiful.

"I accept. I accept the punishment," I told her.

She took her blade away from my neck. "Good. Good boy, Jake." She smiled. Then, she sat in one of the chairs next to the dining table. And she used magic to force me into one of the seats. She snapped her fingers and a few more candles lit up, making the room a little brighter.

And Corinne was gone. I wanted to cry for her, but I couldn't. I was too scared for what Odille would do to me, she thinks that I'm more focused on her instead of one of my best friends who just died.

I wanted it to keep it that way, though, for my sake.

"You must be exhausted," she told me, "I'll let you leave for now. But, you have to come back tomorrow, for the you-know-what." She winked at me. I could feel myself blush.

"Thank you," I said as I rushed towards the front doors. But, then I could hear her in my mind, she was saying, "Oh, and here is your scanner back." I felt my scanner appear in my back pocket. I took it out, and looked at the screen. It wasn't fuzzy anymore. I HAD to scan Odille.

I snuck into the dining room, and saw her sitting there, solemnly staring at the fire, with one gentle hand placed upon her cheek. I stood still, and tried to get a lock on her. Once I scanned her, she sighed and disappeared.

Where did she go? And I didn't get a scan of her after all. Oh well, I thought, maybe I can scan her tomorrow, before I take the punishment.

I wondered what it was, this punishment.

And, more importantly, who was Adalard?


	6. Chapter 6: Suspicion

I then walked out of the two large doors, looking back to see if Odille was still inside for the last time.

But she wasn't.

I sighed and walked toward the desert, and it felt like I was burning to death! Being in the cold for so long made me not used to the heat. I felt sweat drip from my forehead to my nose. And then I noticed I was breathing heavy. I couldn't believe what just happened; in there! About Corinne, Odille, everything. . . . Corinne was dead.

Those words echoed over and over again in my mind. How am I supposed to explain what happened to everyone? How am I going to get around Perim? How am I not to have such a great friend? I felt my eyes getting all watery.

Then. . . . I couldn't take it anymore.

I feel onto my knees and wept. But I had to tell one person what happened here today: Taffial.

I soon wiped my tears and rubbed my nose, and started only sniffling. I wondered what Odille did to my scanner; she must have done SOMETHING to it or else it would have surprised me. I wondered if I could still port to other places in Perim, Chaotic, or even, home. I grabbed it from my back pocket. It still looked fine, and, it was warm, due to the desert's heat. I turned it on, and, it was still normal.

ACK!

I dropped it. The screen then turned a bright grey and suddenly, a dark cursive started to appear, and it said as it went along, "Jacob, I also forgot to mention that you are now forbidden to play anymore Chaotic matches, or else you will have to pay the price."

Why did Odille not want me to play Chaotic anymore? I wasn't going to say anything about her!

Oh well, I still had to get to Taffial and tell him what happened.

I picked up my scanner, as the black cursive writing fell into particles and went to one corner of the screen, and it turned off. Then, I turned it back on again, and it was normal.

I waited to see if Odille had any other messages for me. She didn't.

I ported to where Taffial lived. I never really have been there, only Corinne gave me a scan of his place.

I was really nervous; one, I was scared to tell him that one of his friends had just died, two, I never really. . . . met him before.

I wondered what he was like, I only saw cards of him, and he was red and yet slightly orange Mipedian. Very unique for a Mipedian. And that was about it, I didn't know how he acted like, or what he studied. All I knew that he was one of Corinne's best friends and he was sort of an archeologist. And he was red. That's it.

I was ported into a room, not in front of his house (does he even live in one?) or anything. But, it was at least over nine thousand times better than being in that dark castle!

The room was small, and cozy kind of. It had beige walls, and the rug was a fine bright red. There were large furnished wooden cabinets along the left side of the room, and on the right, was a long work table, with all sorts of tools all scattered on top of some sort of a tablet. Above the work table was more tools, all hanging on the wall.

I looked in front of me, and I saw a small window; but I could not really tell what was outside; it was all bright yellow fuzz. And I turned around to see what was behind me- a Mipedian in the doorway.

He was tall, and his rough scales were a basic red on the top, but his hands, neck and other more hidden things were a reddish pink. He wore a very strange outfit; it was a yellowish green hat with two flaps hanging down from the sides. The outlining was a yellow and red pattern, and it was also on the shoulder pads. His chest was bare, although his neck wore a necklace made out of large navy blue beads. He wore a short vest the same color of his hat with the same outlining to match it. His belt was that same yellow-green, and in the middle of it was a bright aqua blue gem that was holding his colored matched loincloth. On his legs, were greenish yellow baggy leggings a little higher above the knee. And, lastly, on his hands were the same yellow-green and blue gloves. He was also holding some sort of stone in those hands.

It was Taffial.

He looked bewildered, and after a long silence, he finally asked, "Um. . . . what are you doing here?"

Uh-oh! I've must have been in one of his work rooms! I had to say something- FAST!

"Um. . . . Hi. . . . I'm Jake. . . . heh-heh," I nervously smiled and said.

He looked at me if I was a complete freak!

I had some explaining to do, so I started, "Yeah, so, you know C-Corinne, right? Well, um, I'm her friend, Jacob, or, you c-can c-call me, Jake."

I tried to make a good first impression by smiling really big, but that just made him think I'm a weirdo again.

"Why- err, that's not the right question- HOW did you get here?"

"I ported, duh!"

"Well, human! What are you doing here?"

"Why are you so mad?"

"Because we're not getting ANYWHERE! And, I'm in a hurry to study about this."

He held up his stone. I laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," I stopped laughing, "Anyway, you know C-Corinne right?"

"Yes. . . ." he said cautiously, "She is a good secret keeper for a human, and what is with her?"

I felt butterflies, no, not butterflies, Mexican jumping beans hopping about in my stomach. I swallowed. I had to say this. There's no going back; I had to say, she died while we were in the dark castle. I took a deep breath.

I knew that on his face, Taffial knew I was serious now. He was going to listen to me.

I started, "Corinne had told me about the castle you visited," he had a look of shock on his face, he must have told her to keep it a secret.

"Go on. . . ." he then told me, staring at me gravely.

"Then, she said that we should go there and check it out, you know, since you didn't find anything. So, we eventually went in there and we got separated, Corinne fell into this-this hole and I was trying to get out of the castle, but-" I thought of Odille, "the wind blew the doors shut and I turned around, and, and Corinne, she fell out of the top floor and she- she- she. . . ."

"She was. . . ?" Taffial asked.

"She was dead," I coughed out; I was about to cry again.

"DEAD?!" Taffial yelled, and dropped his stone. It broke into two.

But he still stared at me, not noticing what happened to his precious artifact. "Dead. . . . but how. . . ?" he was now staring above me.

He was in a daze. "H-how could she. . . ?" he said faintly, then looked back at me, swallowed and said to me in a stronger, serious voice, "I told her not to tell ANYONE! Counting humans! I told her NEVER to speak of that, that castle, and never, never dare to enter it! How dare she! She promised me!"

He then turned around and shut the door behind him. I could tell, that, maybe, even for a Mipedian, that, he could have about to cry too.

"Thank you," I heard from behind the doors, "Thank you, for telling me about this." He sighed. I also then sighed too. I could tell that he was upset by the news.

Then, this, this sensation burned up from inside me. I could feel my own heart beating faster and faster, and I felt very hot, but that did not matter. I heard laughing, mad laughter everywhere, and visions of Odille smiling and saying something I couldn't understand without her lips moving. I, I was mad at her. For what she did to Corinne, what she did to me! I was angry! But, then, if it wasn't for her and her pact, I would have been dead. For that, I was thankful.

I remembered how pretty she was. I sighed. I was over being mad at her. She probably did that for a reason, I thought, keeping the Mipedian ghost innocent.

I heard the door creak open and I looked up; Taffial was there. His eyes were pink and all wet. He WAS crying.

He then looked at me and yelled, "Why?! Why didn't you go after her when she fell into the hole?! Why did you look for the EXIT?! And not CORINNE?! You are not a good friend you are a monster!"

I was about to explain that it was not my fault, but he was screaming now so loud mad so fast, "YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD HER NOT TO GO INTO THE CASTLE! YOU COULD HAVE NOT LET HER DIE!"

He was breathing heavily, and told me that he was sorry in a hoarse voice.

"You're right, I should have forced her not to go, and she wouldn't listen to me! She really wanted to know what was inside. . . . Did she see like, a map or something, you had?"

"What kind of map?"

"Of the castle! Did you give her one maybe?"

"No. . . . We planned NEVER to go to that place again, after so many fellow Mipedians died. So no, I did not make a map of that horrid place!"

"Well, she seemed like she was walking around in there like she knew where she was going."

"She always does that, she looks like she knows the new place inside and out, but, in reality, she doesn't. She must like you for her to act like that," he then chuckled to himself, "She would do that in front of me sometimes, even though I knew the way better than her." He then looked at the floor and picked up the shattered stone, "I think you should go now, they are coming soon."

What? What did he mean? Then, I heard someone bang on the door.

"Hey! Taffial! What's taking you so long? We want to know what that stone is all about!" said one of the Mipedians behind the door in a deep, rough voice. I could tell there were more than one, because of all the murmuring in the background.

"Hurry!" Taffial said as he pushed me toward the corner of the room, "Port out using your device! If they find you in my work chamber they won 't like it!" I nodded and ported out with one click of a button.

I was back safe in Chaotic. I sighed and grabbed a chair for myself. So many things happened today.

Poor Taffial. He was so mad, and so sad at the same time. He must have really liked Corinne. And now, even the worse part, he had no human to keep all of his secrets.

But, when we were talking, I noticed something about him. He looked at me like if I was hiding something, like if I was lying. I don't know why, but I think he only believe in half of the things I was saying. But, in the end, he wanted the best for me, so that must have been that he believed me.

But I did lie. I lied about Odille. He must have gotten a little bit suspicious that we didn't see her. But gee! Neither did he!

"Hey," I heard a sweet voice call to me, "I looked up. It was one of my friends Emma. She looked more beautiful than usual. I guess that's because I haven't seen her in so long. Her dark blue eyes were sparkling, and her blond braid gently lay on her left shoulder. Her fair skin shined from the white light, and it made her sunflower patterned dress stand out.

"You look very nice today," I complimented her.

"Thanks, so, um, do you want to battle me? I scanned this new Underworlder I wanted to try out."

She is very sweet, Emma, but there is this weird, bizarre side to her, she loves horror, and dark things. And you wouldn't want to mess around with her, she may not be strong, but, she is very good at Chaotic.

"Sur-" I stopped.

"What's wrong?" she asked in worry.

"Um, I. . . . can't. Not today. Sorry."

"Why?"

"Well, um, I, haven't, got, much, practice. Yes, that's it. I haven't, practiced, in, a, while. And I have to go, my mom is waiting for me at home!"

"But you have another you at hom-"

"Gotta go! Bye!" I said in a rush as I ported home.

Ah. My room. I was so relieved to be home.

I looked at the clock. It was exactly 4:32.

Snap.

I am going to be late for my date with Mitsu.


	7. Chapter 7: The Date

I looked at the door.

Then, all of a sudden, my mom bursts into the room, yelling, "Son! What are you doing, standing there? You'll be late for your date! Now get dressed and hurry up!" And then she turned around and closed the door behind her.

While I was changing into my other set of clothes, I heard my mom and dad talk about how happy they were that I was dating a family friend's daughter. I never heard that they made any friends here. In fact, they basically didn't tell me anything. All they did was just ignore me if I was complaining that I didn't like it here, and if I was complaining too much, my mom would scream at me that it wasn't our choice that we had to move here, it was that my dad's job got moved so we had to live here.

But now, it wasn't so bad. I mean, I made a few friends, like Mitsu, and a few other classmates. I started to fit in sort of, since this last year; even though I didn't smoke or drink or anything. But they WOULD make fun of me if Mitsu wasn't my girlfriend.

But, I started to pick up the swearing, and when I would come home, I would get slapped from my mom whenever I accidently swore. And, when my dad came home and I swore, he would most likely beat me. Although, I never swore around him, with his quick temper and all.

After I got on my clothes, I went to the bathroom and combed my hair. My parents never really accepted my hair. Every once in a while, they'll ask me, "Son, why don't you make your hair flat for a change, everyone's going to make fun of you in school!" But, they never understood anything about my school. Everyone at school had their hair all weird and stuff, but they ever saw theirs.

When they enrolled me into this school, all they did was sign a few papers and left, they didn't even care if I was in an safe environment, or even to look to see if it was clean, NOTHING!

I really couldn't handle my parents too well; that's why I normally went straight to my room and played Chaotic and do homework. Or, I would stop as many stores as I can so that I would be late for going home, but I barely did that because I would waste money and once I came home, I would have to hear all the screaming and complaints that my mom would have.

I made sure everything was ready, grabbed my wallet and went downstairs. It was the weekend, so my dad was at home. He was sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper, and while my mom washed the dishes.

"You have a good time, sweetie!" my mom said in a nice tone, but when I looked at her face, she gave me a stern look.

"And don't screw it up!" my dad said, still reading his newspaper.

I sighed and went outside. I hate my parents, I thought, it would be so nice to have better ones, who would care about me and not money. Mitsu was very rich, she lived in the richest part of Duninton, it was sort of private, but not too private.

But we, we lived right next to downtown, the most dangerous part of Duninton. We got robbed over a million times, and once I had to dodge a gun fight that was going on in our front yard on my way to school. But, we weren't poor or anything, it's just that my mom is cheap when it comes to buying stuff, and yet she wants more money. My dad worked for a computer company. And that's why I had a laptop; it was from his company.

I walked towards the café, it was in a little, nice, safe spot. It was more towards the crop area.

Mitsu's mom was a real famous fashion designer, and her dad worked in the crops. They owned a lot of that land, and although they were rich enough, the dad still likes to work there because he worked there ever since he was a kid. Then, Mitsu's mom met him here while they went to the same school. She then became a real good fashion designer and went to another school, far away. She wanted him to come with her, but he denied. He wanted just to continue working here. Mitsu's mom then came back one day, with more money than ever and bought a lot of the land, and a nicer house. And the dad was still there, working in the fields, awaiting her return.

They then got married, and had Mitsu, but her dad had to take care of her most of the time, because her mom was away, making designs for famous stars and models.

I wish my parents had a story like that. They only met online, had me then got married. And, only my dad was Japanese. My mom was a weird mix, but I think she was mostly Russian.

Then, I think their "family friend" was Mitsu's dad, I thought to myself. He was a really nice guy. He was in shape from working all of those years in the fields. He was an American. And Mitsu's mom was also Japanese, she moved here from Japan, like me, but, this time it was because both of her parents died, and she had to live with her uncle here.

I came closer and closer to the café, looking more at its features. It was white, with a few flower pots at the bottom of the windows with a few white pansies in them. And, on the building, was a sign that said Café on it. It was just called, the "Café," because they had no creativity for the name, but only for the café itself.

Under the sign, was a shade that had crème and white stripes on it. I looked through the large window, and saw Mitsu sitting at one of the little round black tables inside.

She wore a nice frilly green and white dress, with her casual knee-high socks and a pair of sneakers. She was reading, as normal; but instead of her casual happy face, this time she looked more, bothered.

I quickly paced inside, and sat in the chair placed in front of the table.

"Hi, Mitsu," I started, "Nice day we're having, aren't we?"

She was still focused on her book. Then, she grabbed a golden bookmark from her pocket, placed it on the page she was on, then closed the book and set it in her brown messenger bag.

"You're late," she said, "And it's still foggy, how can it be nice out?" I looked outside the window. The weather hasn't changed. It was still foggy.

"Sorry I was late, I had homework to finish up!"

"Well, next time, do your homework AFTER, ok?"

Mitsu then smiled. I smiled back. I was forgiven.

We ordered our food, and we ate, and then we talked. Mitsu was talking about some math class she was taking or something. While, I was focused on a special flower in all of those white pansies. It was a pale blue, and it had silver tips and was purple in the middle. It reminded me of Odille.

Odille.

I remembered how her flowing silver hair shined from the light, how her eyes were so strange and yet beautiful yellow. Images of her in my mind would not stop. She was just so perfect. I sighed.

"HEY!" something just interrupted my sweet thoughts! I jumped and then looked at Mitsu. She had an angry look on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"You weren't even paying attention to what I was saying!" she told me, "All you're just doing is looking out the window this whole time! Now listen to me, this is very important for both of us!"

I listened more carefully, but still thinking of Odille.

"Listen, Jake, there is something I want to tell you. . . ." and then tears formed in her eyes. "My father had just. . . ."

I wanted to hear more, but then Odille's voice took over what Mitsu was saying. It was probably nonsense any way. I kept staring at that flower. . . .

"Died."

My thoughts of Odille vanished. Mitsu was clinging onto my arm, her face planted onto the table. She was weeping; she didn't want to make a big commotion by crying too loudly.

Poor Mitsu. Her dad was like her best friend; it must have been really tough to lose him. She was strong.

"Mits-"

Then she got up and ran as fast as she could out the door. I guess she was embarrassed. "Mitsu, wait!" I yelled as I chased after her. I was running as fast as I could to catch up to her, but I lost her in the strong fog.

Why did I ignore her? Why was I infatuated with a Mipedian who is not even living anymore? Why. . . . Why. . . ?

Then, it started to rain. Deciding that I should go for shelter, I ran back to the café. And inside, I saw someone with a long black jacket, a red beanie and blue hair.

She looked familiar somehow.

Corinne.

I was shaking. I thought she was dead. But, she was dead. I then realized that I wasn't in Perim anymore.

She was alive. . . . on Earth.

I was so happy, I ran up to hug her, but then I got punched.

"Ooo! I'm soo sorry, Jake!" I heard Corinne say, "I didn't know it was you! Are you alright?"

"I've been better," I said in a weird voice, holding my nose. It was bleeding a bit.

"I'm glad you're here!" I said happily to her as I then gave her a hug.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you in a while too," she said, returning a hug.

Wait.

She doesn't know that she's dead.

What do I do now? Do I tell her what happened at the castle? What if something weird happens? What if she wants to port to Perim again? What do I tell her?

Think, Jake, think!

"Um. . . . Corinne. . . . I just ported back from, from Perim," I started.

"Yeah! How am I in Perim?" Corinne said, curiously.

"Well. . . .you. . . . can't. . . . come back. . . . here."

"Why. . . . why not?"

"Because. . . . you. . . . fell-in-love-with-Taffial-and-you-want-to-live-wit h-him-happily-ever-after-gotta-go-bye!" I said and ran off.

I heard her weeping and murmuring that she would never love a creature.

CLUNK!

I turned around to see what happened.

I saw Corinne huffing, and she looked really mad. I saw her yellow scanner in the trashcan. She looked at me then walked off.

This was perfect, she can never try to get back to Perim now.

But, although, I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

I wonder what will happen to her now. . . .


	8. Chapter 8: Torment

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to escape this depression, somehow.

I reached for my back pocket slowly, and felt the cold metal in my hands. I pulled it out, and looked around to make sure that no one was watching.

Then, I quickly pressed the crimson red button which stood out from the bright blue, hoping that it could take me to a better place. I closed my eyes, awaiting to see the big screens, tables, robots, and people in the Port Court.

When I felt like I was fully ported to Chaotic, I opened my eyes, and saw nothing but black.

This was not the Port Court.

Was I dead? It felt ice cold, but the air was deathly still. But I could breathe, and everything felt fine, I was surely alive.

I started to blink more and rub my eyes so that I could have better vision to see where I was. Then, I felt something on my neck. I slowly turned around to see what it was. I was afraid for my life.

ACK!

I jumped and saw a bright yellow eye with a thin pupil with a little bit of green around it from the dark. I started backing away, and I tripped over something and fell on my bottom.

The figure with the glowing eye walked towards me, and I looked at the features of the face which the eye was glowing upon. Under the eye, I saw a brown scar, and the mouth was showing a gentle smile.

Then, a candle lit up in the figure's hand and revealed who it was. Odille was holding the candle in one hand, while her other hand was extended, as if she was trying to help me up. I could see now her pale blue scales more clearly, and her eyes were more visible, and that one eye was not glowing anymore.

"Come on, I'll help you up. This isn't a trick, I promise," she said gently.

I took her invitation and reached out for her hand.

My hand went directly through hers. She totally got me. I forgot that she was a ghost.

She laughed, and I yelled, "Geez! First your eye glows and scares the out of me, then now you can't even help me up! Ugh!"

Then, I got up, looked around, and then asked, "How come I didn't get ported to Chaotic?"

"Because," she said and pointed her finger at me, "You can't play your Chaotic game anymore, so why would it be of use to go there? And besides, you can't escape me."

She then smiled at me and sat in a high place, and put her hand on her cheek. She chuckled.

"I made it so that you can't go to Perim without taking your punishment FIRST, and then you are free to do as you please," she explained, "And, the castle and the cursed items in it are waiting for your punishment."

What was that supposed to mean?

Then, I heard words in the back of my mind, like I was reading her mind, but I don't know, it was like if I couldn't understand what these words meant either. The only thing I sort of understood was something like, "Yes. . . . the castle and other cursed antiques within it saw what you did. . . . They hated you with such violent passion that in the end, they harbored a within. And their hatred entrapped my soul, compelling me to wander this world alone until today. You must atone for your sin. Patiently endure the pain of your body gouged and torn asunder. I will carve out and purify the souls of antiques, which possessed you in order to you. That. . . . is the only way in which I may escape to an eternal slumber."

I did not understand what that meant! I wanted to ask, but something inside me churned.

I was coughing. The world seemed to be turning. I had a huge headache. I looked at the floor and saw nothing but blood. And I was adding more to it by continually coughing. I couldn't stop.

It hurt.

It hurt.

Then, we weren't in the castle anymore. I couldn't tell where we were, and I didn't want to know.

All I was thinking about, was going home, and to live. I didn't know if I was going to make it any longer.

Then, I felt my clothes being torn and harsh cuts being made everywhere. I couldn't see what was doing it though. It was like and invisible knife, slashing in every direction. I was still coughing, until the invisible force cut my throat.

I was still alive?!

I could see more of where I was. I looked down and saw rivers of blood and instead of rocks were brown, not white, brown skulls with blood flowing out from their empty eyes. There were dead trees and dead grass everywhere. And out in the beyond, were more of the same skulls with blood tears just floating in the air, and they were polished white, some with jaws, some without. And some of these skulls were not even close to being human, they were twisted, and some had a few more eyes, or some had a few more sets of jaws, with jagged teeth stained crimson.

I couldn't look anymore. I was afraid. And what was I standing on?

Nothing. I was floating in midair. I looked up and in the black sky I could see Odille staring down upon me with a scary stern look. I felt like I was choking. Why?

Why was she doing this?

I, I felt like I was going to die.

Then, I felt something pick me up and throw me down into the ground with so much force, that if this was real life, I would have been dead.

Then, I felt that I was being pushed into one of those dead trees with even more harder force.

I saw through the blood coming down from my forehead. The thing that pushed me was one of those brown skulls. I screamed. But somehow, it felt like it was protecting me from something. . . .

But I knew it wasn't.

This is the punishment.

Then, I saw a bunch more of those brown rotten skulls float off the ground, and then they darted at me. I was too weak to keep screaming.

And then, I choked out more blood. This didn't stop until I felt like I was neither alive nor dead. Then, something pulled me back into the air again.

I wanted to tell Odille to stop, but I was far too weak too.

Then, I saw her fighting. . . . I think.

I couldn't see with the blood now flowing into my eyes.

I then blacked out for a moment or two, but then I saw Odille more clearly and she was standing on top of a pole which juts out of the most giant skull's head. She was holding a candle, but the fire was many different shades of blue, and then she held out her other hand, and instead of trying to help me up, it went up and down, as if she was scanning me or something.

Then, I felt something boiling within my chest. It was getting hot. I couldn't take it anymore. I was so hot that it felt like I was a torch.

My chest then opened. And out of it, was a geyser of blood.

I was too freaked out to say anything. I didn't even scream. I was slowly losing conscious. I then saw Odille holding a bright blue orb she got from the geyser. It then faded away.

I couldn't hear or see or feel anything anymore.

I opened my eyes, and I was back in the castle, lying on a cot. I got up.

My clothes were fine, they weren't cut up anymore. And I looked at my arms and legs; I wasn't cut up anymore. But, my chest was still hot, and hurting from being in the cold.

I unbuttoned my shirt and saw the huge injury. It was pink and purple, jutting out. I was about to vomit or lose conscious again, but I didn't and quickly buttoned up my shirt to hide it.

I looked up and saw Odille kneeled down, sweetly smiling at me. I only jumped. Normally, I would go backwards and fall over something. But I now knew that Odille would just randomly appear from out of nowhere, and I slowly got used to it.

She cocked her head a chuckled happily. "Are you awake, Jacob?" she asked sweetly.

I rubbed my head and said, a "yeah" casually.

She looked up and said, "I wonder what it's like, to turn invisible. Most Mipedians of today can do it. I wonder. . . . is it nice, to be hidden from the world? To do what you want, and no one can see you?"

She then looked at me with a smile, "What do you think?"

I blushed. "I-I don't know! I'm not too big of a Mipedian fan. I go for more the Overworl-" She slapped me.

"I was asking you a question!" she yelled, then looked down solemnly, "I can't even start a good conversation with you."

"I think it would be wonderful to turn invisible," I started after a silence. She looked up surprisingly. "It gives you a good advantage in battle, and if you are planning to stalk someone. Also, if you want to hide, that's the way to do it."

She smiled. She had such a cute smile, and her teeth didn't seem as sharp as some of the other Mipedians, and they were pearl white. And her eyes her more of a yellow-orange now, not like the yellow-green I saw earlier.

I saw some paper and a pencil on a desk on the other side of the room. We both got up, and I walked towards it.

"Can I borrow this?" I asked.

Odille looked annoyed, looked away and said, "Sure. I don't need it."

Why did she look so mad, and yet sad at the same time? I was just going to draw! What was her problem?!

I took it and asked her, "Is. . . . the punishment over?"

"Only for today, it is. They want you to die."

"Well, I'll take the punishment, but I WILL live. That's why I made the contract with you. So that I could LIVE!"

And then I saw her look worried and sad at me. I looked back at her with the same face. But then I turned around, set the paper and pencil back on the desk, and got out my scanner.

"Can I port to other places in Perim, or did you block them from my scanner too?" I asked.

"I didn't block anything from your scanner; I just put a spell that you would come HERE first. And, you can still go to the Port Court if you want, to see your friends, but you just can't have any of those matches there," she said like as if she was sorry.

I turned back around and smiled at her. She smiled back.  
I pressed the button on my scanner and told her while I was fading away into blue sparkly mist, "Don't worry, I'll come to see you here tomorrow. I promise."

Then, I was back at school. I guess it must have still been early. But the punishment felt like it went on for hours and hours. I guess in reality it only must have taken a few minutes.

I had no reason to visit anyone else in Chaotic. Emma only comes there once a week, and I don't make friends with creatures. It just seems, wrong, to me. But, Odille was different, we had a connection to each other, I could feel it.

I saw Mitsu walk up to me, and she looked down and blushed.

"J-Jake?" she started, "I'm, I'm sorry for the date. It-It was all my fault. I'm sorry!" She then hung onto me and started weeping.

"No, it was my fault. I didn't pay any attention to you, I was distracted," I said, then, I held up her face, her eyes locked into mine, "I am so sorry that your father died. He must have been a great friend."

"And, and also, Jake. It feels like just hurt you, and that like, it's my entire fault. For whatever reason, I'm sorry," she said and looked down.

I took off her glasses and wiped her tears from her eyes, and hugged her.

"It's okay. I forgive you."

"Hey! Look at Mitsu and that Jake kid! I guess they did get back together again!" I heard Demeetry say from in the hallway. He was with his gang, as always. He was like their leader. He wore his crazy dark blue glasses, a flat brim hat, tight jeans, and a red shirt with a skull on it. That skull sort of reminded me of the punishment. I almost jumped when I saw it.

He and his gang walked over towards us, I looked at him gravely and asked, "What do you want, Demeetry?!"

He chuckled and pushed Mitsu over. But, I decided not to mess with him, as much as I wanted to.

Demeetry and his family hated Mitsu because she was rich. His dad always wanted to buy their land, but Mitsu's dad wouldn't let him. And his gang consisted of the most violent people of Duninton. So, I just backed away while he spit his tobacco on Mitsu and walked away, with his gang members giving us bad looks and following him.

Once they were gone, I rushed towards Mitsu.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, "They didn't beat me up or anything this time. I'm glad you didn't do anything ."

"Yeah, me too," I said. But something had to be done, but his parents had power, and that's how he became the leader of the wolf pack. Even though he was a tad puny, Demeetry was strong. Once, I saw him beat up one of the most expert gunmen of the gang. He took his head and dragged it along the cement, and he had to go to the hospital. After that, he became their chief. They worshiped him. And even the teachers wouldn't want to mess with him, that's why he has good grades.

I helped Mitsu up, and we went to class.


	9. Chapter 9: Question

"Jake!"

I jumped and looked around. I was in my math class. I didn't remember anything that happened. And everyone was laughing.

I rubbed my eyes and asked, "Yes, Mrs. Brown?"

"You have been sleeping in class again I see. You lose 10 participation points. . . . again," she said as she adjusted her glasses, "This is the third time this week, it is like you are over exhausted or something."

"Well, yeah," I agreed. "I. . . . I've been pretty busy with homework and all. . . . so yeah."

"But that does not mean that you have the right to sleep in the class! Especially while I'm giving you important information for your next exam!"

"Ugh," I murmured as I lowered my head into my arms once again. I think I heard some kids giggling in the back.

Math was the easiest class. I was put into one of the highest classes, and all the kids in there were pretty nice, but Mrs. Brown was a strict teacher. What I liked about math was that this year we barely had any homework, but had really hard exams.

Normally, I would have not slept when Mrs. Brown was giving us hints on our tests, but I was exhausted from last time's punishment.

I remembered everything that had happened. At first, I was in Odille's castle, and we talked about normal things, like our families, my school, and about our daily lives. Then, I was punished last time by drowning in a sea of blood, trying to gasp for air, but I couldn't. I couldn't see anything but the dark crimson around me.

Except, that I couldn't die, I was starved of glorious air for more than 3 hours I think.

But that was nothing compared to the other punishments I have taken.

I guess I am now struggling in school, because I cannot stop sleeping after a tiring day of the punishment when I ported back to Earth. I have thought about not porting the Earth, getting the sleep in Perim, and THEN coming back, but if I knew what went on in Perim, that would relieve my stress in school, thinking about what long torture Odille gave me.

Now is the time. The time to raise my grades.

I raised my head to listen better to Mrs. Brown's raspy voice. Then, I unfolded my arms to unravel a sketch of a beautiful. . . . Mipedian?

Have I been drawing Odille AGAIN? I quickly took all of the papers with every sketch of the many perspectives of Odille and stuffed them into my binder. I was too embarrassed to have anyone see them. What if they knew that I played Chaotic from my drawings?! I started to feel hot all over my face. I then felt sweat coming down from my forehead. I hoped no one saw them. I wanted to fold them up and put them in my backpack; but that would be too risky, and I didn't want them to get ruined.

I listened as my teacher reviewed about polynomials from last semester.

It had been 3 months taking the punishment of Adalard.

In fact. . . . who WAS Adalard?

Now a new mystery entered my mind. Who was Adalard? What is the REAL reason why Odille is tormenting me? I have to know. I just HAVE to. I want to know why Odille has such sad eyes, was it Adalard? And what about her ghostly form? Was that Adalard too? I had to find answers. But where would I start?

". . . . Corinne."

I jolted. My eyes raced from the window towards the front of the room. That WAS Mrs. Brown's voice. It couldn't have been anything else. Was I dreaming? No. I blinked. This was real.

I was petrified. I couldn't move. I was in pure shock.

Mrs. Brown knew I played Chaotic.

I didn't know what to say! I just wanted to disappear! Or go anywhere else! I started to reach for my back pocket. . . .

"Students, this is Corinne. She is a transfer student and she will be studying here with us," Mrs. Brown introduced.

Then, she whispered to her if she reviewed polynomials at her school, and the blue-haired girl shook her head. Mrs. Brown then pointed to her seat, and she sat down.

That was her. That was Corinne.

I was so nervous, so I just refolded my arms quickly and dumped my head into them, hoping that she wouldn't notice me.

"Hey, Jake!" said Corinne.

Oh great.

I brought up my head, and replied an annoyed, "Hi."

She looked pretty today, Corinne. Her blue hair shone in the fluorescent light a bright blue, and the shadows of her hair a navy. Her eyes were emerald green, not only shining in the fluorescent but in the sun's light coming from out the window. She was wearing a crème turtleneck, which brought my eyes down to her. . . . and how did she get her. . . . so big? Well, I guess I haven't her in so long. I guess I kinda forgot her special features.

Then, I heard a few of the rowdy kids in the back, counting a few from Demeetry's gang, and they were murmuring to each other of how hot the "new chick" is.

Did they not know when to quit! They always put their noses in everyone's business! Why don't they just keep their minds to themselves for once!

I then felt like I was getting overheated. I guess it was because of this heavy black sweater I had on. So, I was about to take it off, and then I felt something on my chest.

A scar from the punishment.

I gasped, but then quickly put my sweater back on.

Corinne stared at me with a questioned look on her face then blinked twice.

"Uhh. . . ." I started," I decided I was hot, but, once I took off my sweater I got cold so I put on my sweater back on again so yeah."

"JAKE!" I jumped and looked towards the front of the room. Mrs. Brown looked at me sternly and said, "Jake, do not talk in class while I'm lecturing, and I presume that Corinne does not want to know about your changing body temperatures."

Everyone giggled for a second and then she got back to the new lesson. I guess I missed the hints for the test. Oh well. I had more important matters to think about. Who was Adalard? And why does he interest me so much?

Then, I looked at Corinne. Maybe she knows who Adalard is! She studied with Taffial before. . . .

Oh yeah. . . . she was dead.

But, she had to know SOMETHING, and I had to ask her, or else I would be taking the punishment for Odille for no reason! She had to have a reason! So that's why I had to get to the root, which was Adalard.

I didn't even have to mention Taffial, or Perim, all I have to do is ask her if the name, "Adalard" sounds familiar. No, that's no good. Even if she DOES remember, he's from PERIM, so that means she would ask how's she's doing.

But maybe after class she would most likely do it anyway. So, I took a deep breath.

Today was the day. Today was the day I am going to tell Corinne that she died in Odille's castle.

I. . . . I wanted Corinne to come back to Chaotic with me. I wanted to go on scan quests together, and have Chaotic matches. But I then remembered that it will never, I repeat, NEVER happen ever again.

I then thought that maybe, just maybe if I had the courage to tell her, she could make a new account and go to Chaotic. I want what's best for her. . . .

The bell rang, and I grabbed my stuff and walked with Corinne out the door. It was like telepathy, we both knew that we had to find a quiet, small place where we could discuss about Chaotic.

"So. . . . Jake. . . . I like this new school," Corinne started, she looked around solemnly, "It's nice, but I don't mind moving all the time, really."

"So that's why you were at the Café," I told her. "You moved around here, didn't you?"

She nodded.

"WELL THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" I yelled as I swung my arms around her, but she stepped back away from me, not wanting to return the hug.

"Corinne, what's wrong?" I asked, more serious and concerned.

"Well," she started, "I really don't like the fact about falling in love with that hideous, in-human creature and all. . . . But I am curious."

Her eyes looked at me as if they were asking the same question, "How am I doing in Perim?"

I looked down, thinking up a story, and said, "Um. . . . Well, if I answer your question; will you answer mine?"

"Maybe," she said seriously, but wanting to know how her life was in that world.

"Ok, you are living happily with Taffial, but he is going away to look up. . . . something, " I mumbled, and then asked, "Do you know anything about a creature named Adalard?"

"Adalard?" she asked, "That sounds like something Taffial would know more about, I kinda forgot about Perim's history." She looked down sadly, but then continued, "So, what is he looking for?"

"Who?"

"Taffial."

"Um. . . . he's looking for an ancient rock. Yeah, that's it! An ancient rock!"

"No he's not!"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I really don't know! Ok? But I thought he said something like a magical rock!"

She sighed, and then the bell had rang once again.

"I have to get to my new class," she said and walked off, "And by the way, thanks."

I decided to get to my class too, but someone had answers.

Taffial.


	10. Chapter 10: Retribution

"Odille!" I yelled as I burst into through the large black doors. "What?" Odille asked. She was sitting on the arch to the next room, leaning back slightly.

"Odille! I need to know!" I said. She just looked at me with curiosity, but a little annoyed at the same time.

"Who. . . . who was Adalard?" I asked, breathing heavily from running all the way here, in since I was ported to the middle of the desert.

"Tell me," I told her as I walked closer, "I have to know. Who is Adalard?"

She stood up and stared at me gravely.

"Don't mention that name ever again," she then said. "But. . . . why not?" I asked.

She flew down towards me and stared at me with deep hatred, but said in a normal tone, "There's no need in KNOWING why, you just need to take the punishment." And then she just vanished!

Everything just then went black.

I slowly opened my eyes, regaining my consciousness, and in front of me was Odille, looking at me solemnly, and behind her, was the same arch where she sat from before.

"You're done," she said in a sad tone, like if she was sorry.

What? What was I done with? Are we, Odille and I done?

"The punishment. . . ." she said. My vision sharpened, and in one hand, I saw Odille holding a clock, and in the other, a candle. "The punishment is done. But before you endured it, you were knocked out," the Mipedian explained. She then set down the clock and offered a hand to help me up. I sat up and shook my head.

What was I knocked out by? Her? Did she hit me with the clock or something? And, why would she not let me endure the punishment for what Adalard did?

Adalard. . . . I HAD to ask her one more time. And, if she will not respond, I thought, then, I will go for Taffial for answers. I would know one way or another why I'm doing this, and why I feel responsible.

"You were knocked out," she said, but looked somewhat nervous, "by. . . . um. . . . a rock."

"A rock?"

"Erm, yes. Well, you see, this castle is very old, so, um, the arch above you is crumbling, so, um, a part of it fell off!"

She laughed nervously. I could tell she was lying. But. . . . I didn't care HOW I was knocked out. Nor why. All I could think about is why I took the punishment in the first place. And Adalard.

My memories took me to where Corinne and I were standing in front of the castle, and I was trembling with fear. But I remembered the familiar presence that I feel right now. I looked up at Odille. Her yellow eyes were bright, as if I said I forgive you or something, and she smiled sweetly.

I forgot about her extended hand, and took it. Once I stood up, I looked behind me.

There was no arch.

There was only a painting of Odille, holding something like an orb or something and looking down solemnly. That was new.

She saw me stare at it, and said, "Yeah, that was painted by Adalard." I laughed and asked, "Since when does Adalard paint? I thought he was a fighter, or, like a Muge or something, you know, like most creatures!" She looked at me, annoyed. Then, I knew of a new way of finding out more about Adalard.

"So. . . ." I started. But Odille read my mind and said, "Don't even!" and vanished.

I laughed, knowing that's what Odille would do. And I looked around. I was not where I thought I was. I was in some sort of bedroom of some kind. It was full of paintings of Odille, and the bed was grey, all covered in cobwebs, just like the rest of the room.

I decided to stop looking around at the place, even though it was mysterious. I knew I had to get to Taffial, for he was the one holding the answers. I walked out of the room, and it was one of the doors that lead to the main dining room. In front of my eyes, stood the door where I saw Corinne, dead. I shivered, and it seemed so close. I stood in fear.

I remembered clearly of how Corinne looked. That crimson-blue hair, that torso with no limbs, those newly bleeding scars, and those eyes, darker than black, with blood tearing down from them.

I wonder what her last words were.

I wondered what her last wish was when she died, but, I will never know. I wondered if she hoped to live, or, if I was kept alive, or, if the ones she cared about have a good life without her.

That would be something that she would wish for.

If I was in her position, and if I knew if I was going to die, I honestly don't know what I would wish for.

She was innocent. She did not deserve to die. But. . . . Odille killed her, because. . . . she wasn't pretty? That didn't make sense! That didn't make any sense at all!

The innocent don't deserve to die. . . .

I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. I guess that's why Taffial got so mad. He was strong. He can hide his tears. But I. . . . I can't. Because I'm weak.

Then, I thought of Adalard and quickly rushed out of the room, but paused and looked back at that door. Maybe I could see Corinne one last time. . . .

All of the visions of her corpse flashed throughout my mind. I jumped.

I didn't have the courage to. She was dead. And I couldn't change that fact.  
And even though she was alive on Earth, she will never have her memories of the dark castle.  
I stiffened, and then took a deep breath. I decided to leave.

I took out my scanner and ported to Taffial's room.

Once my code got transported to the small workspace, it was pretty much the same as it was last time, except the tools on the work table were more scattered, and it was covered in rock bits and scraps of wood.

I waited there, not knowing what would happen if I just barged into another room, and Taffial was in some sort of important meeting, and they would blast me to pieces because maybe I would hear something important, like a huge secret about Perim or something. So, I decided to take a peek out of the door to see if anyone was there, and if not, then I could see Taffial alone.

I reached for the knob, listening if anyone was coming. But it was quiet. So, I slowly turned the knob and peeked out of the door. The hallway was white, and the floor was wooden. Wooden floors are pretty rare for a Mipedian to have. And then, I fully opened the door and stepped outside. But, as I took another careful step,

THUNK!

I fell flat on my face. I think I even bled somewhere on it. I just simply wiped it off and looked behind me to see what I tripped on. I saw a liquid substance, and it was placed right in front of the door, like it was put there. . . . on purpose.

I got up, and I heard someone coming up the stairs. Their steps were so heavy that I don't think it could have been Taffial. It was like they wore boots made of steel. I tried to run inside, but slipped on the substance again and made another THUNK! Sideways, I saw that liquid spread all over the floor within a yard's range, like if whoever set up this trap knew I was going to port to that one room, and knew that if I got out, I would slip and fall down.

What a horrible prank Taffial.

Or, what if it wasn't Taffial? What if this trap was set up by someone else who captured and killed Taffial, and wants to kill me next? I started to breath heavily. I was confused. But that prank, or trap, was set for ME. I knew. Because someone couldn't step over this spread-out liquid, and it was so someone who got into the room couldn't get out without being heard.

I wanted to leave so that I couldn't be either laughed at by Taffial or killed. . . . but. . . . Adalard. I had to know. . . . but. . . . maybe I could ask later. I was all covered in this strange liquid, and was hurt pretty badly. What was this liquid, anyway?

The wooden flooring! How come the wooden flooring didn't absorb the liquid? It must have been some weird substance. . . . I even think it was gooey.

The footsteps got closer. I had to port out of here. So, I reached for my back pocket. . . . and my scanner was gone! Where was it?! I frantically looked everywhere, and saw that I dropped it when I slipped.

I crawled over towards it, and when I could finally reach for it, another hand grabbed it first.

I looked up.

Taffial.

"Taffial! Why did you pull this prank on me?" I asked.

He looked at me coldly and said nothing. His eyes had mixed feelings, like rage, hate, and crazed. He stared at me for a long time.

Then, he took my scanner, and hid it under his vest. "What are you doing!?" I yelled. Then, he switched the blue scanner for a sharp, jagged dagger that had a fancy design on the handle.

I looked at him with fear, and asked, "What. . . . what are you doing?"

He said nothing, but stared at me, but he looked behind me, and then back at me.

"Corinne," he finally said.

"Corin-?" I tried to ask, but Taffial took a clean swipe at me, but I sprinted away from him. Why was he trying to kill me?! And WHAT about Corinne?

I made a quick run to his left and dodged his second swipe. I started to run down the stairs, almost wanting to slide on the rail because it was most likely faster. I could hear Taffial right behind me! His footsteps were loud on the wooden steps even for his swiftness. I then heard another swipe and a part of my shirt being torn.

I gulped and felt my adrenaline in my body, hopefully making me faster. But, he still was right behind me, making more swings of the dagger and yelling. Then, as I made my way down to the door, it was covered in that strange liquid again. What's with this?!

I ran to the door and tried to use the doorknob a million times, every once in a while looking back. It seemed that Taffial wasn't that close to me as I thought he was. He was still halfway down the staircase, staring at me with a deathly glare. I shook the doorknob more, but it didn't budge. I tried to look for another exit, like a window, or another door, but all the windows were covered with the liquid, and there were no more doors.

I was trapped.

Taffial was still running down the staircase; I had to find a weapon, and fast! I scanned the room. And I found a sword over the fireplace, but it was exactly across the room! I had to make a run for it. It was my only chance of hope. I sprinted past the stair case and Taffial, but he started to run faster than me, and he was at the bottom, and running towards me, yelling "REVENGE!"

Revenge? What was he talking about?

I wanted to turn around and ask, but I knew that he would be too reckless and furious to answer. I had to fight back, or else.

Once I reached the fireplace, which had a portrait of Corinne under a broken glass, and another one of Taffial, and the sword was inside a black sheath. I made a jump for it, but it was too high. I turned around, and Taffial was still swinging as he was heading towards me. I made another jump. Another, then another! But it was too high! He was right behind me! I could feel it! I could feel his deep hatred for me! I'm doomed! The only chance I have now is to try to reason with Taffial!

But he was so mad at me! If he wanted to do anything, it would be only to kill me! Looking at him, I even think that he would even risk his own life at the expense of my death.

I quickly turned around. He was right there. But he was breathing heavily, but I could see his determination in his eyes.

"What do you want?" I asked loudly.

He stared me coldly and repeated, "Revenge."

He used both hands to swipe again at me, but I ran, and he then fell on the fireplace with all of his weight, making the wall shake. And the sword fell down and slid out of the sheath right in front of me.

I noticed Taffial wasn't knocked out; he was ready to get up and make another attempt.

So, I quickly took the sword and put it in two hands like they do in the movies, but I couldn't figure out which hand goes over which! I tried right over left, then switched to left over right. I never used a sword before!

But. . . . looking in Taffial's eyes, I know that he's not going to reason with me unless we fight.

I saw him slowly get up, and I straightened my position. He was staring me in the eyes, but made a way towards a desk! What was he doing? Should I attack him? Or shouldn't I wait until he took another swipe at me with his dagger?

But, once I saw him open the drawer in the desk. It was really long. He took out a golden sheath with fancy dragon designs on it.

I stared in fear. Then, he took out a mighty sword, with a shiny golden handle with intricate designs with jewels on it, and the blade was long and sharp.

He walked towards me.

"This is over," he said gravely, "FOR CORINNE!"

He ran towards me with unimaginable speed! I closed my eyes.

CLING!

I felt myself blocking Taffial's sword with such force that I could barely break away.

He was staring at me so gravely that he was almost calm. But he had anger in his eyes. He started to say as he pushed harder, "I KNEW it! You KILLED HER! YOU KILLED CORINNE! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU WOULDN'T JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH, BECAUSE NO ONE, I REPEAT, NO ONE MADE IT OUT OF THAT CASTLE WELL, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN GO THERE! I KNOW IT! YOU KILLED CORINNE!"

And he pushed so hard that I broke away, I started to run, but I turned around to block a few of his swings. He regained stamina. We were both running at the same speed, smashing our swords together with all of our forces, mine for survival, and his for vengeance.

I tried to talk while we were banging our swords together, but I was running out of energy! I had to either say something persuasive or defeat him!  
We continued, and he was now yelling and cursing when we broke away. I was surprised with my fighting skills. I've never fought before in my life, except when I was being beat up on in school by Demeetry and his gang.

Then, Taffial's swings got so much harder than before, and I felt every time he banged it onto my sword, trying to break free from my hands, my sword started to chip.

I was panicking. I couldn't let my sword break! His was so much stronger than mine. So, I looked for the perfect opportunity.

I ran backwards, but unfortunately, into a corner. There was no escape.

Taffial started to laugh at me manically. "AREN'T YOU EVEN GOING TO SAY THAT YOU'RE SORRY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO CORINNE?"

I breathed heavily and started to say, "Listen to me, Taffial. I did not kill Corinne. I'm telling the truth! If only you will just list-!"  
"YOU KILLED HER AND I LOVED HER!" he screamed.

I started to snicker.

"YOU? You LOVE Corinne?! Even though she's a human, and you're a creature?! Ha! Why?"

Taffial looked down solemnly and said, "Well. . . . I guess I've never noticed it before, but when I first met her, there was something magnificent, something special about her. . . . Then, despite our differences, I started to like her more and more every time we met. She would always smile, smile such a sweet, gorgeous smile. And her eyes sparkled like emeralds more precious than any other treasure that I've ever found. I then found out that I loved her. . . . AND YOU! YOU KILLED THE ONE I LOVED THE MOST! HOW DARE YOU! I WILL AVENGE HER YOU WHAT YOU DID TO HER!"

He was about to charge, but I looked down and said, "I see." I started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" he asked madly.

I just looked up at him and said with a smile, "How could Corinne love you back? Have you ever thought of that? Let me tell you something. YOU are a CREATURE. An ugly Mipedian who can't do anything besides look at OLD, BORING things. And, Corinne is a HUMAN, one that WOULD NEVER, EVER LOVE YOU."

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed as he charged so fast that I was barely able to block his attack.

Then, I felt something come at me. Rocks!

I tried to dodge them. I broke free of Taffial's sword, and I ran. He took another swipe but missed.

I forgot that he had the element of Earth. How am I supposed to block his attacks now?! I kept running until I had an idea.

I sprinted towards the desk where Taffial put the dagger. I took it, and started for the staircase. This HAD to work. It just HAD to. If I was going to live, to reason with Taffial, and most importantly, find out who Adalard was.

Taffial was making a few rock waves here and there, but I luckily dodged them both, and jumped onto one of the rocks and leaped, reaching with all of my might for the staircase.

"VINE SNARE!" Taffial yelled as I felt my leg being pulled towards the ground. I felt a whiplash and plunged into the cement floor. Most likely I sprained my ankle, but I had to get up and fight him. But I couldn't. I was too weak.

"Now," Taffial said as he walked towards me, "Any last words?"

My arms pushed me up back into an upright position, and saw blood continually dropping onto the white concrete. I wiped it away from my nose. But the blood was still dripping. I could feel it coming from my forehead running down my face.

I looked up at him and said with all my force, "I. . . . I. . . . did. . . . not. . . . kill. . . . Corinne. . . . . y-you hear. . . . did not. . . ."  
And I grabbed the sword and threw it with all my force towards Taffial.

"You missed," he said.

I couldn't give up. I wanted to live. To live for Mitsu, to live for Odille, to live for Corinne.

I looked down and saw the dagger. I saw my reflection. I was in love with a creature. Odille. I knew how it felt. Even though we're different, from different worlds, we're still the same.

I looked up at Taffial with determination. He was still looking at me gravely and yet normally.

I understood him, and I felt sorry for what I said to him. I picked up the dagger, and threw it with all of my might, all of my strength, and all of my spirit.

"Wha-!" yelled Taffial as the dagger pierced him in the back of his hand, and his sword fell to the ground.

He started to yell and holler as he tried to yank out the dagger and heal his wound. Even though it was small, it let out a lot of blood, which dripped onto the floor like mine did.

I pushed myself up, and staggered towards him. He was still screaming. I wondered how much it hurt.

I picked up my sword and aimed it towards him. He looked toward his sword nervously. It was about a few feet away.

I won.

He laid there on the floor, looking up, frightened.

"I did not kill Corinne," I repeated. "I am not the type of person who would kill their best friend for no reason. I was telling you the truth. We both went into the castle, and Odille killed her. Odille let me live because. . . . I love her. And I know how you feel Taffial. So, I am sorry for what I said to you earlier. I wouldn't like it if someone said that to me about Odille. I, even I don't know if Odille loves me back, but I love her. That's all that counts."

I picked up the dagger, and walked to Taffial's sword and picked that up too. And Taffial looked to the ground solemnly, and he started to weep.

I tried to get him to understand me. I told him, "Taffial. I am sad too. How do you think I felt when I saw Corinne dead before my eyes? She was my friend too. And why do I love the one who killed my friend? It's because. . . . because. . . . ." I didn't know why.

Taffial wiped away his tear, while leaving the other one to run down his face. "You didn't kill her?" he asked.

"No," I answered. I understood how he felt right now. He was full of sadness. Remembering that the one you love the most had died, trying to avenge them, but lost.

After a long silence, he looked up again and said to me, "I believe you. And I'm sorry."

I forgave him, and he said,"Here," and took out my blue scanner. "You can port back now. The doors will be covered for a while. I'm fine. I can survive longer than you."

"But I came here for a reason," I told him.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Well, I need you to tell me about a creature named Adalard. If you tell me, I will help you with your injuries."

He felt relieved, but asked me, "Aren't you going to kill me? In since I tried to kill you?"

"No. You do not deserve to be killed. You tried to avenge the one you loved. That's truly noble." I told him as I walked toward the desk to look for some sort of band-aid.

I walked?

I must have healed or something, because now all of a sudden I could walk again. It was weird. . . .

I found some gauze in one drawer of the desk luckily, or what I thought to be gauze. I went to Taffial, helped him up, and he said he could heal himself so I just gave him the gauze.

Then, he told me, "Wait right here!" And went upstairs. I sat on a couch next to the desk. Taffial came back down with a large grey book that had bizarre symbols on it. He opened it and flipped through the pages. When he found what he was looking for, he said, "Here it is! Adalard: A son of the Overworld leader whose name is unknown. Expert artist and fighter."

"And?" I asked.

"And that's it," he said as he closed the book. "That's all I know. Sorry."

"That's ok. And, Taffial?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks," I said as I was enveloped in blue numbers and letters.


	11. Chapter 11: Vision

Drip, drop, drip drop.

I looked outside the window and saw the repeating drops of water from the roof. I was thinking about that fight I had with Taffial. I even almost forgot why I planned to visit him. I kept thinking to myself that I should have been more convincing to Taffial, or else he wouldn't have attacked me. But I guess that everyone makes mistakes. And besides, it's over. He believes me now.

But my questions about Adalard were never answered, except that he was from the OVERWORLD.

That is what brought up more questions.

"Hey, Jake!"

I jumped and turned. It was only the one whom Taffial tried to avenge. "Hey, Corinne," I said.

"Are you nervous for the test?"

"No, why would I be?"

"Because I heard it's really hard! And if you don't study, you won't pass the class and take it again next year. . . . How come your grades are so low? You used to brag to me about how great your grades are and that you might become a doctor one day and-"

"That's when we were kids, Corinne! That's old stuff!"

"But we're still kids! We're only in high school, Jake. You're not an old man. You still have time to bring your grades up and become a doctor like you wanted to be-"

"But I want to be a painter-"

I covered my mouth.

"What?" Corinne asked with curiosity. But even I was surprised about what I just said.

"Heh-heh. . . . Did I say a painter? No, no I didn't. I said. . . . a. . . . um. . . . player. Yeah, that's it! A player! Maybe I should join a sport. Ok, that's the bell-bye!"

Then I sprinted out of the class as fast as I could.

Why did I say I wanted to be a painter? It was weird. . . .

"Hey, Jake!"

NO! I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO CORINNE! But it was only Mitsu. She looked pretty. Her green hair was curling down neatly; she wore her matching grey and pink outfit. But the glare on her glasses made it hard to see her eyes.

"Are you ready for our date?" she asked softly.

Date? Did we have a planned date? I wanted to port to Perim so that I can see Odille.

But seeing Mitsu was good too, I guess. And she got all dressed up for it and stuff. So I guess I HAD to go.

We walked together holding hands through the crowded hallway. Once we got outside, I saw Demeetry and his dogs smoking and giving Mitsu dirty looks. Demeetry spit and said, "Hey, Mitsu, you bitch. We'll get your money, one way or another." Then his followers smirked and laughed. I tightened onto Mitsu's delicate hand, like it was going to break off any second.

Then, I saw her look down solemnly. She had a right to be scared of those guys. I didn't blame her. She was always being after, with all of her money and all. Once, I asked if she was going to move, but she said this was her home and would never leave.

But I'm glad that she wouldn't leave, because I liked her being here, with me.

I woke up from my daydreaming and found ourselves walking on a bright green hill. And the flowers on it were beautiful, with their petals covered in sparkling tears. And Mitsu said not a single word; grasping onto my hand with all her might.

"We are we going?" I asked.

She looked dead ahead and replied, "You don't remember, do you. We used to go here when we were small, innocent, children. Not knowing how a horrible life it is when you get older." She then turned to me and smiled. "Isn't that right?"

I took a step back, making a slushy sound in the mud. "N-no," I replied, "I mean, I guess I'm grown up, and I don't think life is horrible." I hoped that it made her happy, but she looked down and we continued.

But still, I had no idea where we were going, and I keep trying to remember, but I just couldn't.

I couldn't remember.

It was like, my memory was returning from long being stored in the corner of my mind. But, it was slowly coming back. As we got closer, I could recognize the pattern of the trees, and the two clumped rocks, like in a shape of a heart. And there were more flowers than there were on the bottom of the hill. They were smiling up at us. I then turned to Mitsu, and she looked straightforward, and started to smile.

"I'm glad you remember now," she said and she tightened her grip and started to rush forward. I was running with her over the hill like a happy couple. And on top, I could see the many skyscrapers and the many crop fields. I thought we were going to stop there, but we didn't. Underneath the many trees, I spotted a few rocks and brush that formed a cave.

My full memory of this place was restored. I remember that cave! That was where Mitsu and I used to go when we were young! I remember hiding there when we ran away from our parents, and many more times. . . .

"I remember!" I said to Mitsu, "I remember now!" She said nothing and just kept smiling.

We entered, and it was just like we remembered. It was dark all the way in the back, which when we were small, we didn't go that far because we used to believe that a bear lived there, you know, like in many stories. But, we kept on going until Mitsu stopped in complete darkness. I thought we were going to the end to touch the wall or something, but she pulled my hand closer to her.

I could feel her heartbeat and the warmth of her chest. She kissed my hand and started to sob.

I didn't know why, and she quickly clung onto me.

"Jacob. . . ." she started. "I. . . . I. . . . I don't know what to do. . . . with my father gone and all. . . . Now, Demeetry and his gang-"

I shushed her, and held tightly onto her. "Don't worry, Mitsu. . . . I will never leave you. Ever. I promise. . . ."

"Oh Jake. . . ." I could hear her say, but. . . . it didn't seem too much like her voice. I couldn't see her, because it was completely dark. And, I felt a cold wind, and it was familiar. Then, my eyes started to feel weird. Still holding onto Mitsu, I rubbed them. I blinked. But still, it felt like I was in a dream. All of a sudden, I thought I could see something, a purple, blue, and grey blur, and it felt like I was hugging a puffy dress.

I repeated those words once more.

"I will never leave you."

But. . . . I didn't feel like myself. . . .


	12. Chapter 12: Dream

I was walking down the street, passing by the many dull, grey buildings. Today was the day, I thought. I'm going to tell Corinne the truth. I had my hands in my jacket pocket, tightly gripped onto my scanner. I was almost ready to port out. I was still afraid to tell her. And what if I messed up? What if I say it the wrong way? Then it would be a disaster! She might just believe the wrong thing if I mess up.

But, today WILL be the day she finds out that she died. One way or another. . . .  
I stopped in front of her house. It was quite shabby looking, I must say. But it wasn't the worst house either.  
I walked up the stairs, very slowly. I even looked back out of fright, and found an old, bald, short, man with squinted eyes walking his dog stopped and staring at me like I was a weirdo.  
"He. . . . Um. . . . Hi," I said.  
He just laughed and said, "Oh, Spot. I just must be seeing things," as he walked on. He walked into the street, and walked in front of a bunch of cars, they all stopped and honked, but he kept walking and said, "Hey! Watch where you're goin'! Don't you know the sidewalk is for people only! You could get arrested. But, I'll let you go, because I bet you're a new driver."  
I just stared.

But I had to get back to telling Corinne the truth. She deserved to know. And, what if Taffial finds out about this? But, I wouldn't know how. But, what if. Visions of him popped up in my head. He had red eyes and laughed, "Mwa ha ha ha ha! Jake! I'm going to get you for not telling Corinne that she died!" Then he pulled out his sword and I yelled "NO! I will tell her! Taffial! Don't worry! I got this all worked out! Just go away!"  
"Hello Jake."  
Taffial disappeared and I got up and opened my eyes. It was Corinne's mom.  
"What was that all about?" she asked. She looked to see if anyone was behind me. "Anyway. . . . what brings you here?"  
"I. . . . Is Corinne here?"  
"I'm sorry. She went out to Kathy's Gifts and Cards. Let me tell you, she's still into that silly game, what's it called? Chaos? No, that's not it. . . . Chaotic. There. She's still into it, even at this age. I keep telling her she's too old for such things, and she should go and hang out with her friends and do more normal things."  
Normal things. That made my stomach churn.  
"Jake, have you ever heard of it?" she asked.  
I shook my head, but then quickly nodded.  
"Um, well, yes. I have. When I was small, of course. It's not like I play that silly game now. It's for kids."  
She smiled, and said, "I'm glad you understand. But oh. Please don't tell her that I told you this. She'll get embarrassed."  
"I won't," I said.  
She saw my hands in my pocket, and I guess my hands were tight on my scanner.  
"Hey," she said, "What is that?"

She saw my scanner.  
I slowly pulled it out.  
"Um, nothing, ma'am. It's just. . . . a new phone."  
"Really? Corinne had one just like it. Except that it was yellow. SHE didn't tell me that it was a phone."  
"Oh? What'd she tell you?"  
"She told me that it was a device that transported her to another world! Yes, Corinne is an imaginative one! She described that place to me. She said it was magical, unlike nothing here on Earth. And, she kept mentioning Taffial, a Mip-ed-ian. I think. Well, she must have told me about a hundred stories about that guy!"  
I ducked to make sure Taffial wouldn't scream at me again.  
"Haunt me no longer! You fiend!"

"What. . . ?" Corinne's mom asked. She was looking at me funny. She had a mad and a confused expression on her face. "Fiend?" she said. "Am I a fiend?"  
Ack!  
"No! No! No! I wasn't referring to you! You see, I. . . ." I said, then turned around and ran. I couldn't handle that stupid Taffial! He always ruins everything! Dumb Mipedian!  
"Hee hee hee. . . ." I heard him laugh in the back of my head.  
"Go away!" I yelled, and he did.

I walked home, thinking about my actions. I shouldn't have ran away like that. But, it didn't matter anyway, because Corinne wasn't home. I still wondered if I would have the courage, or the time to tell her. Maybe she was better off not knowing what happened. . . . But then again, it felt like she needed to know, or else Taf- no. I won't let HIM bother me. Ha! I had Mitsu.  
"I will always protect you. . . ."  
Why did those words haunt me? And was that. . . . a vision? Of Odille?  
Maybe this had something to do with Adalard. So, I looked around to make sure that no one was looking. No one on the right. And as I looked to the left. . . . that same old man with his dog were there. He was walking towards me. Oh great.  
"Hey, nice kind man. Would you mind telling me where the grocery store is? I'm new to Hawaii, and I do not know my way around very well. But it is very beautiful here, very exotic. I love all of the palm trees. I see them on every block! Aren't they beautiful?" he asked and pointed towards the streetlight. "Um. Sir, that's not a-"  
"Oh, Spot, aren't you thirsty? Don't worry, I'll get you water soon!" he said to the bush.  
"Sir, I think you need glasses," I told him.  
"Nonsense! My eyesight is perfectly fine thank you!" he said, "Now, the grocery store. . . ."  
I tried to think of the closest grocery store. "Uh. . . . there's one that way," I told him and pointed to the right. "Then take two lefts, and one more right."  
"Thank you, come now, Spot," he said and started walking left.

Until I made sure that he was gone (but not like it would have mattered that much anyway, but still), and got out my scanner again. Then, I ported.  
Once I got there, I was in the middle of the desert. There was nothing except for sand and rocks for miles! But, as I felt a cold breeze behind me, I turned around, and saw the castle hovering over me.  
How many mistakes have I made today?!  
Well, anyway, I started for the doors, and once I got inside, I yelled, "ODILLE! WHERE ARE YOU?"  
"Jake?" she replied.  
"That. . . . vision? What was it? Did it have something have to with Adalard? Tell me! You haven't told me anything! I need to know! I need to know these feelings I have, and. . . ."  
"Jake," she repeated, with a grave look on her face. "I told you never to say that name ever again."  
I came closer to her. I tried hard to explain, but. . . . it's kind of unexplainable, you know? It's one of those feelings where you just feel like you need to know, and have no purpose in knowing.  
I said, "Odille, before you tell me 'Oh, Jake, just take the punishment and blah blah blah,' just tell me about that vision! I don't need to know about Adalard right now. Just tell me about the vision!"  
She flew closer to me, staring me with her fiery eyes. Then, she just turned around and said simply, "You'll find out. . . . soon enough."  
"What?" I asked. But, obviously, she didn't answer, and vanished.  
But, I still took the punishment, although, this time, I didn't look forward to it, because I was so annoyed that she didn't answer me.

After, I tried to change the subject. "Hey, Odille. . . . can you cast mugic?"  
"No. I never had a talent for using mugic, all my life. Even though my friends, who eventually became muges, tried to teach me. . . . Hey. You used it before, right? When you became creatures in your silly little game?"  
"Well," I replied, "when I casted mugic, it was pretty cool. . . . I guess. But, I normally just used more Overworld fighters and focused on powerful attacks."  
The moment I said the word, "Overworld," Odille's eyes narrowed, but that was it. I looked at my scanner to see what time it was, and it was 9:39. It was getting late.  
"Sorry, Odille, I gotta go. You know, before my parents suspect me doing something else when I'm actually just getting my code back home," I told her.  
She looked up at me sadly, with lonely golden eyes. Then, she looked down and said, "Go."  
"Thanks," I said as I pushed the red button.

But nothing happened.  
"Dang it! I hate it when that happens! Earth Jake! Press that button now, darn it!" I yelled at my scanner.  
And finally, I was surrounded with blue numbers and letters, but, my eyes were focused on the sad Mipedian girl.  
I mean, I wish that I could have stayed with her longer, because like, she must have been alone for all of those years, with no one to share her conversations with. I wondered what it was like. . . . .  
But still, I mean, if she haven't killed those Mipedians who entered her castle in the first place, I wouldn't be in this mess, and she could talk with them! Ha!  
Then, when I was at home, alone in my room, I slumped onto my bed in relief and sighed. I then turned on my lamp, got out pieces of paper, and started to draw Odille.  
I always started with her eyes, sad, and yet beautiful. I would then draw around her eyes, her head, mouth, and neck. Sometimes, I would just stop there, but if I had more room, I would draw her dress. Somehow, I felt that if I drew her in something else, I would feel like her beauty would be incomplete, and the masterpiece would be ruined.  
Unlike all of everything that I knew, Odille was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. That's why I couldn't stop drawing her.

After I drew three portraits focused on her head, I yawned. I looked at my watch to see what time it was. 1:26. I had to get some rest, as much as I wanted to draw another portrait of that epitome of beauty. So, I folded my arms rested my head in them, and closed my eyes, with my thoughts only of Odille.

She was there, in her castle. I asked her, "Why? Why me? How come you have such sad eyes? Adalard? What about him interests me? Vision? That vision, what was it? Why? How?"  
And all she did was shake her head and say, "I cannot say right now, as much as I want to tell you," with an innocent, sad look. Behind her, the castle started to crumble, and her face was no other expression than that solemn look straight at me. I started to run towards her, and she vanished.  
But I was in front of that door now. It was a ghostly white, just like I remembered it. "No," I murmured under my breath, "Don't open." But it did. And Taffial was in it, holding Corinne's corpse in his arms, sobbing. He then looked up at me and said, "You killed her. It is still all your fault. If you knew this castle was dangerous. Why didn't you stop her from going here?" And I looked down, believing him. I looked back up at him, but he was gone.  
And yet Corinne still remained. Then, her corpse started to move on its own. I jumped back. "This. . . . can't be. . . ." I said to myself. Her torso stood upright, and her head slowly tilted upward, looking at me.  
I walked backwards, horrified. Blood now begun to tear down from her eyes' dark voids. She started to jerk towards me, as if her torso was walking. Then, she made a huge smirk, she jerked towards me more, and I stood there, frozen in fear. She started to talk in a psychotic voice, "Jake, why did you leave me? I thought you liked me. Ah wait, you don't. You don't even have the courage to tell the Earth me what happened. So, I'm going to do to you what you did to me!" And she started to laugh manically as she lunged forward with all of her strength. I started to run backwards, keeping eye contact with her still, saying, "It was not me! It was Odille! She's to blame! She did this to you! I wanted you to be alive! Believe me!"  
"That's not enough!" she screamed crazily as she was still lunging at me.  
I started to sprint, trying to get out.

"Odille!" I yelled, "Odille, help me! Please!" And Mitsu appeared in front of me. "Jake. . . . what happened? Your grades are dropping. We barely see each other anymore," she said, and then reached out for me. "I want to be together. . . ."  
I looked behind me to see Corinne's corpse still hopping towards me, laughing.  
"Mitsu! Look! I'm being chased! I gotta go!" I told her as I tried to around her. But, she blocked me as I tried to get around her. I looked back, Corinne was not too far behind.  
"MITSU! MOVE NOW!" I screamed as I shoved her to the ground. She seemed to fall slowly, with a shocked look on her face. And her glasses fell off.  
She put her hands in front of her eyes, and started to sob. I was still looking down on her, because I didn't know what to do. "Don't cry, Mitsu," I told her. Then, I started to run besides her, and I tripped on something.  
I looked back. She was holding my leg with one hand, while covering her eyes with the other. And Corinne was on the floor, still laughing, although, she was too weak to get up and make another jump.  
"Jake," she said as she uncovered her eyes, "you said you would always protect me." Her eyes were bleeding tears.

"I trusted you."

Then, someone stepped on Mitsu's chest harshly. She didn't have any other expression, and she still was staring at me. I looked up to see who the person was who stepped on her. It was Demeetry. Just him. And he spit on her and laughed, "Mitsu! Your father's dead! Who's going to get all that land now?! Huh!?" He kicked her head. And she made no movement. Just still tearing blood, looking straight at me.  
I tried to get up to avenge her, but I was stopped by Corinne, who was sitting on me and smiling down at me with her scary grin.  
Demeetry started again, "Mitsu! I know who killed your father!"  
". . . . Who?" I demanded.  
"Why," he started, "It was me, you fool!"

My eyes widened.  
BANG!  
My eyes widened even more as I tried to push Corinne out of the way, but she took a clean bite out of my arm.  
I hollered in pain and fell back, looking up at Demeetry, with gun in hand, smoke coming out.  
He started to laugh manically at Mitsu, who was now dead, with her solemn eyes still looking at me.

I screamed.

Then, a bright light came. I was blinded, but could hear Demeetry and Corinne screaming in pain until I could hear them choking.  
When I could see again, they laid dead on the ground. And the last one standing was Odille, who looked solemnly at Mitsu, and kneeled down next to her, waved her hand over her, and Mitsu disappeared.

Odille looked at all of the others, and started chuckling. She wouldn't stop, and when Taffial ran to Corinne, Odille started to laugh out loud manically, and Taffial drew his sword and tried to slay Odille, but once he reached her, she waved her hand, and a white light flew into him, he froze, then exploded from within.  
I stared at the horrible sight, hoping with all my heart that it was not Odille. Yet, she turned around with her arms widespread, still laughing.

I shut my eyes, and screamed, "SHOW ME NO MORE!"

I awoke on my desk, breathing heavily, and still staring down on Odille's sad eyes.


	13. Chapter 13: Mitsu

I. . . . I. . . . I don't know what to think anymore. He was so kind, ever since I met him. But recently. . . . he's different.

He's not like himself anymore.  
He was so smart, and used to have an A in every class. But now. . . . he has a D or worse in every class, including P.E. Because, yesterday, when I was returning some books of mine, I saw the instructor yelling at him for his lack of participation and not trying his best. Sure, he wasn't the nicest teacher on campus, but he normally doesn't yell at anyone for a silly reason like that. That must have meant that it was serious.  
And, he won't talk to me much in general. I try to walk up to him and say hi, and every single time he jumps or stares into the distance, as if he had never heard me. We also don't go on dates much anymore. After we went to our Lovers' Cave (as I like to call it), we haven't seen each other much outside school hours.  
He won't even walk me home. Once, I asked him nicely on a rainy day. I even said that we could share my umbrella, for he didn't have one. And he said, "No, I have to go to Corinne's house. There's something I need to tell her." He finally looked at me and said, "You understand. Don't you?"  
Before I could say anything, he took off in the storm. Leaving me behind to walk home alone again.  
To tell the truth, I was very afraid to walk home on my own. With all the gangs in Duninton, it's possible that you'd run into them and either have to hand them all your money, or take a good beating, or sometimes, both.  
Death was one thing they didn't do unless you messed with their tribe. And they claim they did it in the name of "honor." Sometimes it's all a lie. And sometimes it was because they ganged up on someone who was foolish enough to fight back. But most of the reasons were because if they were scared of someone who was strong or powerful enough to stop them, they would have to "get rid" of them.  
I don't know what I would do if I had run into Demeetry's gang, who was waiting for the day they would get their hands on me. They didn't like the fact that I was rich, that I had lived in a nice house, or that we owned a field.

Once, when I was very little, my father showed me the whole field that he had owned and worked on. "Hey!" yelled a stranger. My father told me to get behind him, and I did, but I looked from behind to see what was going on. "What do you want, Maria?" he yelled at the teen.  
Although she had a mean look to her face, she was actually quite beautiful. She had long flowing black hair, eyes the color of the sky, and skin almost as white as the clouds. She had no make-up whatsoever, for she was too poor. I did not know too much about her, I do not know why.  
"My brother," the pure girl spoke, "was playing in your field, and, he was being chased by your workers. They even followed him home! They threatened to kill him once they could get their hands on him! I think this is of your doing! He's just a boy! So what if he runs in your field! I told him to never go here a million times, but he keeps coming here. I asked him why, and he said it was because he loved it a lot here, and when he grows older, he wants to work here-"  
"That's enough of your lies! That boy shouldn't interrupt our hard-labor!" my father yelled, "And if he even stays alive long enough to grow older, he's never allowed to work here! NEVER!"  
"Hard labor. . . . You never do anything! I haven't seen you once in this field before! Only just your workers! All you do is take all the money for yourself! Can't you even give your workers some money so that they can live? They're starving!"  
"How would you know? If they're so bad as you say they are, then how in this damn world would you find out about my ***** workers?! HUH?!"  
"Mind your mouth in front of your young daughter! I know because MY FATHER WORKED IN THIS VERY FIELD!"

I never heard my father cuss before. He never acted this way. He was always nice. He always took good care of me.

My father stopped. He was very close to her now. I was standing a ways back from the two. I almost wanted to run away. It was because of Maria. She scared me. I always thought that she would have killed my father. He hated that family. But I did not know that her father worked on the field. I wasn't born then and my father never told me. But yet he had never told me of the workers. He told me that they were just a bunch of bad men and I shouldn't go to the field alone.  
Then I saw their faces. I guess I went closer. Maria's face I could see the most clearly. She was serious and demanding. While my father had mixed emotions. He was angry, but he laughed with disbelief.

"Your father. . . . worked in THIS field?! You are a crazy bitch did you know that?! Ha ha! Worked in this field!"  
Her pure face was still demanding.  
"All I ask is that you bring no harm to the poor boy."

My father stopped again and spit on her. Maria made no movement except getting her handkerchief and wiping it off.  
"Heh. I will not harm the boy. You have my word," he said to her. But it looked like he didn't mean it. His eyes were those of a lunatic. Or worse. . . .

"Mitsu," he said to me, "Go back to the house. Quickly now. I don't want this evil teenager to hurt you. So just go."  
I did as he said and ran. I wished for my life. I knew that she escaped from his grasp and was chasing after me! So I ran and ran and ran and ran! She had a knife, I presumed, or a gun! She wanted to kill me because of my father! Because, that's what he told me.

While I was running I heard beatings and little screams. I knew that it was my father defeating the evil! They were both behind me, it was loud enough.  
Then, I heard a scream.

It was that of an angel's or even more divine. Like she was crying for help, losing her purity and chastity, longing for her own life. But it was the maiden of death.

I turned around expecting to see my father and Maria.

But there was nothing behind me.

I guess I had a train of thought and found myself in a dark alley. It was unrecognizable. I didn't know where I was! In panic, I turned around to see where I was walking from, but it was pitch black! I ran. Ran like I did when I was younger. I ran for my life.  
When I found back to the gray skies and the teardrops of the rain on my umbrella, I saw a building that was familiar. . . . The school!  
I was so happy to see it again! It was the school! My school. . . .

I bumped into something. "Agh," I murmured as I found myself on the floor. Feeling the rage of the sky as it started to hail on my body. I was shelter less. I looked up.  
It was Demeetry.

"Look everyone! It's just the girl we were hunting for!" he told his pack of dogs.  
They started laughing and cracking their knuckles. It disgusted me.  
"Just leave me alone!" I yelled at him. "I haven't done anything to you so what do you want now?!"  
He looked shocked. But then laughed and said crazily, "Yeah, you haven't done anything to me alright! That's right! Look at you! All pure, did nothing bad. And, I'm a bad person. This is just what I do."  
His band laughed again. Then he signaled to two of the toughest looking thugs and they came towards me.  
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I yelled and I cussed at them. They roughly grabbed both of my arms and pulled me off the ground.  
"You murderer!" I screamed, "Killing everyone! Killing innocent people on the streets! Why? Why can't you and your gang just stop?"

"Murderer?" he asked, "I just put the poor out of their misery!"  
"And rob them!"  
"It's for the good of everyone. How do you think I even had my pals in the first place?"  
He came closer and looked at me straight in the face. "It was because I gave them the money I stole," he told me as his voice started to soften to a simple whisper.

Then I felt his warm lips on my neck, and slowly creeping up to my ear.  
I could have done something if it wasn't for those stupid dogs!

Once that horrid thing stopped, he whispered in my ear, "Mitsu. . . . If wasn't for that money. . . . How do you think I could have

KILLED YOUR FATHER FOR REVENGE!"

Then I felt flashing pains in my arm. I screamed. But it was of no use. I looked to see that my left arm were covered in blood.  
I looked up to see Demeetry's face covered with more of it and a maniacal face. He was smiling.  
"Who's the murderer now?!" he screamed on top of his lungs.  
But before I could say anything, I felt another stab in my arm.  
I saw Demeetry pull out the knife and I screamed in more pain.  
He kept stabbing more and more and he was enjoying it.

"Oh Mitsu? Can't feel your left arm anymore? How about I stab the other one!?" he yelled as I felt another terrifying pain in my right arm.  
And this time I screamed louder than ever before. Hoping that he can save me. That he can even hear my call.  
Demeetry cackled. That loud malicious laugh made my ears bleed.  
"I wonder if that damn Jake will come to your rescue!? He doesn't care for you anymore! Don't think I don't see anything! He leaves you, you poor girl! You lost your father, your boyfriend, your money, and most of all. . . . YOUR INNOCENCE!"  
He stabbed me recklessly. I could hear him murmuring stuff like, "You lost it," and "long ago," and "when your father," in between breaths and stabs here and there.  
I noticed that the other thugs weren't even touching me. It was only Demeetry. He wanted revenge that I had a lot of money and he didn't.  
I heard someone whisper, "Hasn't he had enough?" and someone else say, "Let's just take the money and go. What are we waiting here so long for?"

"Why'd you stop Mitsu? I love hearing you scream," said Demeetry as he paused for a moment.  
I didn't say anything.

"I think my friends are right. I'm going to take your money now. All of it. But that will never pay for the crime your father committed. Nothing will."  
Then he signaled the two thugs that were holding me by the arms and they dropped me. I fell on the concrete, helpless.  
Demeetry started kicking me in the worst of places, and I heard one of his gang members threaten to do something terrible to me that I don't want to think of again.  
"No," Demeetry replied, "We're here only for the torture and the money. Nothing else!"  
They shrugged and were angry, but they didn't do anything else.  
Then, Demeetry took my wallet out of my pocket. I was too weak to stop him.  
"You won't be needing this, now do you?" he chuckled and threw it to his gang.  
"Good," one of his members said. "Now let's go now Demeetry!"  
"You go ahead, there's something more I have to do. . . ."  
"But you did enough already!"

"NO I HAVEN'T!"

He aimed his gun at me.  
His eyes were full of vengeance and hatred, and clinched his teeth in pure anger.  
The thunder roared and lightening struck in the sky behind him as the hard rain was falling upon us.

"Don't shoot! Someone will hear us!" another one of his members advised him.

"I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE! I DON'T CARE!" he screamed at him. Then he looked at me and screamed even louder, "I WANT HER DEAD! I WANT HER DEAD! I WANTED HER DEAD-!"  
He paused.

He looked at me and his fury died within him as his emotions became filled with depression. He lowered his gun. And he continued to look at me with sadness. I couldn't make out if those were tears on his face or if it was the rain.  
I was hoping for Jake to come. That was all. Only him.  
But was what Demeetry saying true? Does Jake not love me anymore?

I felt a horrifying pain in my chest. I was too weak to let out another wail.

Demeetry stabbed me again with his knife.  
It had seemed that his other colleagues had left him.

"Mitsu! Mitsu!" he yelled in between voices in a dark hoarse voice I've never heard before.  
"Mitsu! You'll pay! You'll pay! Your father did it! Your father did it!

HE KILLED MY SISTER MARIA!"

Then everything went black.


	14. Chapter 14: Beginning of Truth

"No, I have to go to Corinne's house. There's something I need to tell her," I said. "You understand. Don't you?"

And I turned around and walked to her house by myself. Man, Mitsu is a pain. I don't want to hurt her feelings or anything, but I really need to man-up and tell Corinne the truth. . . . again.  
This must be the millionth time I did this. I thought to myself that I should just give up and never tell her. But, what happens if Taffial finds out? And I have this strange feeling in my gut that one day if creatures get smart enough to transport to Earth. . . .  
No. Erase that thought Jake. It's not going to happen. Creatures will never be that smart.

Then I started to feel cold all of a sudden. This rain is really starting to get on my nerves. But I won't let something as silly as this stop me from going to Corinne's house. . . . will it?  
I paused and turned around for a minute. Maybe it isn't so bad not to tell Corinne the truth today. After all, it isn't going to rain forever. I'll just tell her tomorrow, I thought.  
And then I started to walk to my house. It sure was dark. I wondered what happened to Mitsu. Is she still mad at me? I hope not, or else my parents would get furious.  
But I think she'll do fine in the rain, I mean, she does have an umbrella doesn't she? Nothing bad can happen.

As I walked on in the pouring rain, I looked up at the dark sky. It kinda reminded me of Odille's castle. I've been there so often that I even almost forgot that I even play Chaotic. I got used to the punishment. It didn't bother me anymore, although I have this scar. I looked under my soaked shirt to see if it haven't got infected or anything. It was still a huge pink scab the size of a fist on my heart. It might have gotten larger since my last punishment. I touched it slightly with my wet hand, and immediately drew back. It stung pretty bad, but I'm sure that it won't last long if I keep it dry.  
I looked up back at the crying sky, teardrops falling upon me.  
I hoped that Odille would do fine when I'm not there. She must be very lonely. . . . I must be her only entertainment, her only friend. She's been trapped in the darkness and solitude for over a thousand years! I mean, she is a ghost after all.

Odille.  
I yearn for the truth about Adalard. I wish I knew why he hurt you. I wish I knew why there is punishment. I wish I knew why this has anything to do. . . . with me. . . .

Then, I thought I saw a flashing light.  
I looked around, but there were no cars, and no people.  
The thunder roared, and I saw a lightning bolt a distance away.

I ran as fast as I can. There were so many street lights around me, I was in trouble! I had to get to my house as fast as possible! I have to see Odille again. . . .  
But I also don't want to leave myself to die here and live in Perim. I would rather die here, even if I break Odille's heart. I would not want the pain of not knowing if I died or not on Earth, and be terrified to ever transport back again. . . .

Then I saw my house! I was home!  
Another lightning bolt flashed not too far away, and the thunder roared again.  
I sprinted to the doorway. I made it home.  
I sighed in relief and I opened the door.  
"Ma, I'm home," I announced, but got no reply. I guess she was still at work.  
Before doing my homework, I thought I'd watch a little TV (I haven't played Chaotic online in a LONG time now). So, I set my drenched backpack on the couch and grabbed the remote off the table and turned on the TV. At first, it started to fuzz, but then it finally worked. It was the news. It was perfect because they should say the weather forecast for tomorrow.  
"Duninton Weather Forecast!" the TV announced as the words circled around the sun. Perfect! Just on time!  
"After this!"  
Then, it showed two policemen holding a boy by the arms, as he struggled to pursue after something. And, it showed a small ambulance and one man rolling a bed with someone on it.  
"Just today," a news reporter started, "a young woman was being stabbed by a boy just around the same age-"  
"I'm home!" my mom said as she walked in the door. "Sorry Jake, there was a lot of traffic today, and plus I had to slow down because of the rain. Man, I hope it won't rain tomorrow. . . ."  
I didn't say anything to her. I was too busy thinking. . . . about Adalard.  
"Hey," my mom started as she came behind me, "I think they have the weather on channel 8."  
So, I pressed the 0, and-  
"Hey! THAT'S MITSU!" my mom yelled. But before I could go back or press 8, the channel went to 0, which was all fuzz.  
"Go back! That was Mitsu! I'm sure of it! Didn't you walk home with her today?"  
"No," I said, "That is not Mitsu. That is someone else lying on the bed. I would know. And yes, I did walk home with her today, because she had an umbrella."  
"Oh. . . ." my mom sighed as she looked down. "Then I guess it was just me." Then she went upstairs.  
I stared at the screen. Maybe it was Mitsu. After all, I left her all alone. . . . But how could it be? In the rain? It can't be. . . .  
"MITSU! MITSU GOT STABBED!" my dad hollered as he burst through the door.  
My mom ran down the stairs.  
"Really?" she said very confusedly, "Then. . . . who-?"  
"It was that boy! Demeetry something! The head of that gang I told you about!"  
My mom covered her face in horror.  
"That poor thing!" she finally said.  
I thought about going away, but before I could-  
"Boy!" my dad yelled, "Did you walk home with Mitsu today?!"  
I couldn't be sure if he was worried or angry.  
"Yes, he said he did," my mom answered, "because she had an umbrella!"  
My dad stared at me and said, "I think we need an explanation."  
I didn't know where to start or how to lie. So, I thought it out for a bit, then said, "Well, first I walked Mitsu home, and, when we got to close to her house, she said she would be fine, and asked me if I needed her umbrella. I told her that I don't need it, and so we parted. Then, I came home. That's it."  
I shrugged. I thought that was a fairly good one. I hope I can get away with it.  
"She was robbed, too," my dad said solemnly. He took the bait.  
I sighed and looked at them with an apologetic face. "I'm sorry," I told them.  
"It's alright son," he said, "You didn't know anything about it. . . . but are you sure you didn't hear anything as you left?"  
I shook my head.  
"Oh, then I guess it was later on, then."  
I looked at my dad, then my mother. "Shouldn't we call her mother?" my mom asked worriedly, as if she felt like she was sorry and needed to do something about it so that we are forgiven.  
"I'm sure-" I started before my dad could say anything, "that she's already in the hospital by now. Who knows how long it has been since it actually happened."  
My mom shook her head. "Jake, we know," she said in a more calm voice, "but I'm saying about visiting her. We don't know where she is now. And we to apologize to her."  
She picked up the phone and started dialing, while my dad stared at the ground with a sad or a furious look on his face. It was hard to tell.  
And in since I felt like I was no help but more like a nuisance, I started for the stairs.  
I couldn't believe this happened. It's all Mitsu's fault. If only she would keep out of trouble. I knew that someday like this would happen. She would run into some gang and instead of running away or fighting back she would try to reason with them. It was just pointless.  
But she got stabbed? That's something new. I'm surprised that she didn't get killed instead. Most gangs don't have the idea of "torture." Normally, they would kill for revenge or money if that person fought back, or they would just rob. I wondered who would do such an idiotic thing. . . .  
BANG! BANG!  
It was on the door.  
I turned around and saw mom looking at my dad frantically.  
"D-darling. . . ." she started.  
My dad also looked somewhat frightened.  
BANG! BANG!  
"OPEN UP!" came from behind the door.  
I didn't know what to do. I stood frozen in shock.  
"Jake. . . ." my dad told me severely, "Go upstairs now. GO!"  
I ran upstairs. Then, once I was in my room, I got my scanner and hid under the bed, terrified.  
"At least I'll be alive in Perim," I thought as I pressed the button without a second thought.  
I was enveloped with a blue light with numbers and letters surrounding me. Then, I vanished to Chaotic.  
But I was still here, on Earth. At least I won't suffer in that other world.  
But even if Odille kills me, I'll die happily.

I got out from under the bed and heard my mother and father talking to whoever the mysterious strangers were. They sounded scared.  
I quickly looked around for someplace to hide my scanner. But then I heard them stomping up the wooden stairs.  
I had to hurry, and so before they stormed in, I hid it under my pillow, and I thought that they can find it there, so, I hid it in the pillow case-  
"Jacob Kurosawa!" someone yelled.

I slowly turned around, and not to find gang members, but policemen!  
I stood there, dazed and confused.  
They all waited there as they let someone go through them, it was just another policeman, with my parents behind him.  
"I'm telling you, my son had nothing to do with the incident, he didn't walk her hom-" my father tried to tell him, but got stopped when the officer turned around and glared at him.  
"I have to interrogate with this boy myself," he told my father, "we need to know how this happened."  
Then, he motioned the others and my parents to exit the room, and they did so without question.

"So," the officer started, "this is what your room is like, huh?"  
He talked as although we met before, but I knew we didn't. He tried to be all friendly and put on this act so that he can get the truth faster out of me. But I had nothing to do with Mitsu's incident. So I'm going to tell the truth. The policeman wouldn't care if I ditched her now would he? The only thing I would worry about is that he told my parents. But I don't care anymore. I just want him to go away as fast as he can.  
He started pacing around the room, observing the room and myself. I didn't say anything and just stood there, waiting for his first question.  
As he turned around, I saw something shine in his pocket. It was blue and it camouflaged with his pants.

It was a scanner.

I was in shock. But after a little bit I turned around and chuckled.  
"What's so funny? This is an interrogation!" he said.  
"But you haven't asked me any questions, so I can't see how this could be!" I countered.  
"Well," he started, but looked at the chair and asked, "Can I sit here?"  
I nodded and he did so.  
"Now," he started again, "I bet you are wondering why I have a scanner. . . ."  
"Because you're old and you play Chaotic!" I thought.  
"I heard of you, Jake. . . . In fact, I requested to have a match with you, but you never replied. In fact, Jake, a lot of people who tried to ask you to a match were denied. And, I heard rumors that when you arrived in Chaotic, you would port somewhere else right away. . . . and only one person caught a glimpse of where you ported. Al Mipedim."  
How could they have known?! But, it could be anywhere in Al Mipedim; the Oasis, the Palace, somewhere in the middle of the desert. . . .  
"How come you still go to Chaotic and haven't played any matches for about a year?"  
He was demanding.  
But I tilted my head and said calmly, "Well now, I don't have to go Chaotic just to play matches now do I? I could go on scan quests, you know. . . ."  
I smirked. It was perfect.  
"But I don't think that's all. . . ." he started gravely. "I think there's more, and plus you're not telling anyone about it. Someone's going to find out about it sooner or later, so why not just tell me now. . . ?"  
"Heh," I sneered, "I thought this was about the interrogation with Mitsu's incident. What happens if your fellow cops comes in and finds out that you play Chaotic?"  
"Then we'll just take you in for another interrogation," he countered.  
"Anyway," he said after a quick check at the door, "we should play a match sometime."  
"Maybe I don't want to. And just who are you?"  
"I am Officer Thomas. Ryan Thomas. Or in Chaotic I'm known as Termin8er."

I've heard of this Termin8er. He's unbeatable! He has ultra rare scans and no one knows how he got them!  
And I think that he is more than trying to just ask why he never got his match with me. He's trying to get the secret of Odille out of me! He knows that I'm going somewhere where no one knows of, and wants to get scans! Ultra rare scans that no one else will have!  
The fussing of my scanner came into memory.  
That's right! Odille can't be scanned!  
But her castle can. . . . And. . . . if he can go into the castle during a match. . . . He can find out her secrets!  
I could not let Odille down!  
Just as I was about to tell him that I will never tell him the truth, the other cops came in.  
"Officer Thomas, is the interrogation done?" one of them asked.  
"Yes," he said, standing up. "Let's go. He's innocent."  
I thought for sure he was going to take me in.  
"Jake," he whispered to me before they left, "We will meet again. And I will get answers."  
"Good-bye, Officer," I said harshly.  
"Good-bye, Jacob," he said in a fake friendly voice.  
Then, he took one last glare at me and exited out the door.

"My darling!" my mom said as she hugged me, "Did he hurt you in any way?"  
"No," I said as I shrugged her off. Then, I went to the window and looked at the cops getting into their cars outside.  
He's after Odille. I have to protect her and her secrets. I cannot let him follow me. That is why Odille only lets me port to her castle directly. IT is because she didn't want anyone to follow me. I finally understood. And, I'm glad she did that.

After I was covered in the blue light, hoping for my life on Earth, and I wished to see Odille.  
But, as the light unraveled, I was not in her castle. Instead, a bright white light shone. I shielded my eyes with my arms. And, when I thought the light has gone away, it was all a blur.

I saw two figures, one small and one slightly larger. And the larger one drew a knife and stabbed the other one, pulling the knife out covered in blood.

Then, that bright white light shone more, and I had to protect my eyes again.

I saw Mitsu, she was being stabbed. By Demeetry. He was shouting and cursing at her and mumbling of revenge and what her and her family did to him. Mitsu was crying and was helpless. I couldn't help but pity her. Tears started forming in my eyes. I left her. . . . all alone. . . . and she was attacked.  
It was all my fault.

The light shone again and I just closed my wet eyes.

This time, the light was gone.  
I was in Odille's castle, and Odille was right in front of me. She had a sad look on her face as she stared at me.  
"Oh," I delightfully said, "Odille! I missed you!"  
She said nothing and looked down.  
"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"You're terrible!" she yelled at me. And she swiftly floated away and turned around. I could hear her sniffle.  
"You let her suffer! You're not a gentleman now are you?" she said suddenly.  
How could she have known that it happened? It was on Earth?  
"Why?" she started asking to herself. "Why? Why? Why?"  
"Odille," I said as I put my hand on her transparent shoulder. She slightly turned her head and looked at me, with her head still hanging low.  
"I'm terribly sorry for what I did to Mitsu. I'm going to tell her that once I get the chance. I'm not going to let her down again. I'll never leave her alone. . . . And now for my punishment?"  
It felt more like I was actually talking about Odille than Mitsu, considering how lonely she was. . . .  
She looked up at me with hope, and said, "Yes, let's get it done."  
"But," I said. She stopped.  
"I only have one wish. You can torture me until your heart's desire and even kill me afterwards. But I only have one wish.

Tell me about Adalard."

"Tell me. . . ." she started, ". . . .about Adalard."  
"Yes, tell me about Adalard."  
"Tell me about Adalard."  
"Don't toy with me!"  
"Don't toy with me."  
"STOP IT!"  
"Stop it."

Then, I felt something go through my chest as I vomited blood.  
It was a giant pillar. I was in the air, in the same location where the punishment took place.

Odille floated up and looked at me with fury.

"I WILL NEVER TALK ABOUT ADALARD EVER AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME! NEVER!"

Then, I could feel too much blood exiting my body.  
I felt dizzy. . . . then everything started to slowly become a blur, then darkness, then. . . .

nothing.


	15. Chapter 15: Doubt

Why. . . ? Why won't she tell me about. . . . Adalard?

I stared out the window questioning this. . . . again. And that is not the only thing I have worrying about. Now, I've got to deal with Officer Thomas, who might tell everyone in Chaotic that I'm hiding some sort of secret, and then they'll be after me too!  
"Mister Kurosawa! This is the ninth time I've caught you not paying attention!" yelled my science teacher. "What is the formula for photosynthesis?"  
I didn't study at all! I wasn't ready for this!  
"I. . . . I have to go to the bathroom. . . ."  
"Yes you may go once you tell me the formula."  
"Okay. . . ." I thought for a bit, and nothing came to me. "For what again?"  
"Photosynthesis," she said simply.  
". . . . photo-wha?"  
Everyone laughed. I knew absolutely nothing. I sank in my chair.  
Maybe I've should have told her that my girlfriend got stabbed by a psycho gang member yesterday. Oh well, she wouldn't believe me anyway.  
"Photosynthesis, Kurosawa. Now pay attention, I am going to write it for you," she started. Then, she picked up the chalk and started writing strange numbers and letters on the board-  
"Carbon dioxide and water, then add light to get glucose and oxygen!" I suddenly blurted out.

Everyone stared at me, including the teacher.  
It was photosynthesis. Just now it felt like I've knew it all along. I guess I wasn't paying attention. But it truly felt like I didn't know a thing about that a few seconds ago. . . .  
"Kurosawa! Did you get that from one of your classmates?" she asked.  
"Erm. . . . No, I just forgot. . . . That's all." I shrugged.  
"Ah, well then very good remembering. I assume you DID study for tomorrow's test, right?"  
"Yes, I-I did, ma'am."  
Like if I knew there was a test tomorrow! I ported back in the middle of the night last night and thought that the Earth-me should study! But gosh I'm so stupid! Why didn't I study? Was it because of that stupid policeman? I'm sure he left in the late afternoon! And my mom and dad found out that Mitsu was okay in the hospital! Nothing could have stopped me from studying. . . .  
Then, a memory of Odille flashed through my mind. Then another! Then another! She was in black in white!  
Last night I drew her. . . .

RING! RING! RING! RING!  
The bell finally rang. Tonight I'm definitely not going to draw Odille, I thought as I went through the busy hallway. I'm going to study and-  
I caught a glimpse of blue hair. Corinne!  
By instinct, I ran up to her and grabbed her by her sleeve. She gasped and quickly turned around.

She was holding hands with another boy.

He looked at me curiously with deep violet eyes through the many strands of his long, brown bangs with a sparkling glare in them.  
"Oh," I said confusedly, still staring at him, noticing all of his features. Although his bangs were long, his hair was pretty short, and his skin was porcelain white, which shone brightly in the light. As I looked on, he wore strange clothing for his type. He wore a black T-shirt with a skull on it, similar to that of Demeetry's, except this one had flames behind it. Blue flames.  
"Oh-! Hey Jake!" Corinne said in a tomboyish way. And she was wearing very girlish clothing, a little too girlish for her type. She wore a mini pink skirt with white stockings that led down to her tall black high-heeled boots, and she had a black shirt with a white jacket half covering it.  
She smiled. She was wearing bright red lipstick and purple eye shadow, with matching red and purple flower earrings.  
That made me sick. I really didn't think that was Corinne. It couldn't have been her! Not the person who I was with when. . . . when we were in. . . . Perim.

I held back the tears, and she said, "Jake, did you meet Drew? Drew, do you remember him?"  
He tried to draw back the bangs that covered his eyes, and said in a soft but yet cool voice, "No. I do not remember this kid. Although, I think I've heard of him."  
I looked at him, surprised.  
"Jake. I think this is the one who used to be one of your best friends."  
His eyes looked at me though those bangs coldly, and yet somehow friendly and sweetly.  
Used to be? I'm still her friend! And how did you know who I was?!  
"Yes, that's him," she said as she grabbed my hand.  
Maybe he's just a friend too! Phew. That made me relieved.  
"Jake, this is Drew, my boyfriend."

BOYFRIEND!?  
"Nice to meet you, Jake," this "Drew" said before I could say anything.  
I just shook his hand in shock.  
"Jake, what's wrong?" Corinne asked sympathetically.  
The horrifying thoughts of Taffial that I always had now shattered when she said the word, "boyfriend." Would she really give up on him? She wouldn't give him a second chance? Or actually, any chance at all?  
She really must have not loved him, and couldn't believe my lie that she did. She figured that if she fell in love with some monster that she hates in that world. . . . she would find true love here. She thinks she could co-exist and have separate loves and separate families which would keep going on, and on. . . . But in reality, she never loved him. She never will.  
What could I say? Should I tell him that she already found someone else and that is the truth?  
I felt the urge to tell her right here and now that she already died in Perim, and maybe things would change. . . . And she could at least tell me that she would never love a thing like Taffial if even I told her that he loved her with all of his heart, that he mourned over her, that he tried to kill me just to avenge her.  
I bet. . . . that he would die. . . . to just. . . . get a glimpse of her. . . . again. . . .

What a cruel thing. I would not like it if someone betrayed me like that. I would be upset if Mitsu, or especially Odille found someone else and just ditched me, after all that we've been though. I mean, I wouldn't do that to any of them . . . .

I would never betray them. Just like I promised Mitsu. Just like I vowed to Odille.

"Jake?" Corinne asked.  
"Oh, um, yeah," I said, trying to hold back more tears, "I'm fine. But, um, Corinne, can we talk. . . ." I looked at Drew, about to say, "alone." He now looked annoyed, with his eyes staring at me more coldly and his arms crossed.  
"Not now, Jake," she said as she took Drew's arm, "I've got to go to my locker. Maybe some other time, okay?"  
I stared at them in shock, then I looked the other way and finally said, "Yeah."  
It was hopeless anyway. And I didn't want that Drew overhearing us.  
Maybe there could be some other time, where Corinne is back, back to her old self again. Then maybe she could take me more seriously. I smiled as I felt tears rolling down my cheek.  
Then, she would understand.

I went home, depressed that I couldn't walk Mitsu home and tell her how sorry I am, and my mom said to me, "Jake, let's go to the hospital and bring Mitsu these flowers." She held up a bunch of bright red roses. "She'd like it if you brought something for her," she said with a smile.  
I thought she would be mad and yell at me, "APOLOGIZE!" But I guess she would leave that up to me.  
We drove to the hospital, and I looked out the window, with the bundle of roses on my lap. I thought about Adalard more. Those memories of Odille when she screamed at me, "I WILL NEVER TALK ABOUT ADALARD EVER AGAIN! YOU HEAR ME! NEVER!" kept going on and on inside my head. For her to scream like that. . . . He must have made her really mad AND sad. But, I WILL find out about Adalard, no matter how many times I get tortured, screamed at, or parroted.  
We arrived at the small hospital, and as we got out the car, I caught a glimpse of a police car drive by. I shivered and hurried inside.  
Then, I followed my mom into Mitsu's room. She had just a tiny balloon that said, "Hope you feel better soon!" on it. Her mother sat right next to the bed, talking to her and asking her if she needed anything. For a second I was too scared to look at Mitsu, but when I glanced at my mom she was looking at Mitsu. I guess she couldn't look too bad-  
SHE LOOKED LIKE SHE JUST GOT OUT FROM A CAR CRASH!  
I wanted to scream. Although I could just see her head, it looked battered; completely brown and red scars everywhere! And she only had her left eye open, because the other had a very bad scar on it.  
"Um, Mitsu," I started as I walked towards her bed and sat in the other chair. Her mother glared at me for a bit but then said to Mitsu, "I'll be back in a bit, darling. I need to talk to Jacob's mother first."  
Then we were alone in almost complete silence if the beeping didn't count. I didn't say a word and Mitsu closed her eye.

"R. . . . r. . . . ro. . . . roses. . . . are my. . . . fav. . . . orite. . . . flower. . . ." she tried to speak, as her eye looked towards what I was holding.  
"Huh? Oh yeah. I brought these for you," I said as I held them out to her.  
She wriggled around in her blanket and brought half of her arm out. IT WAS LITERLLY IN HALF! It was one bone with some muscle on the upper part of the forearm and a little bit on the other half. And her hand was all chopped up with so many pieces of flesh just dangling down. I swear I was going to vomit!  
With her frail hand she stroked the petal of one of the roses. I set them on her chest so that she wouldn't have to use much strength to do so. She looked on at them but stopped touching them.  
I wanted to ask her if she could speak well enough so we could have a conversation. And I also wondered where our moms were going and how long they were going to be gone. In since they had to come back sooner or later, I had to get over with this.  
"Hey. . . . Mitsu. . . ." I started again, "Listen. I'm sorry for not walking home with you that day. It was all my fault. . . . To tell you the truth, I didn't wind up going to where I wanted to! I went straight home. . . . and. . . . and. . . ." Tears started forming in my eyes again.  
"I DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU'D GET HURT!" I held her broken hand and looked into her eye, which watched me expressionlessly.  
"Trust me! I had something very important to do!"  
"Wh. . . . wha. . . . what was. . . . it?" she asked.  
I looked around. She doesn't know anything about Corinne! She might think that I'm betraying her again if I tell her! But I couldn't lie.  
"I. . . . I had to go to a friend's house to tell them something very important. . . . But, they weren't home."  
"Wh. . . . who?"  
"Um. . . . . . . . Drew. You don't know him. He's a kid in my science class."  
"O-oh. . . ." she started as she looked up. She closed her eye again. "I. . . . I. . . . f-f-forgive. . . . you. . . . It-it must have. . . . been. . . . im. . . . import. . . . ant. . . ."

I smiled.  
Then, I asked her, "Why did he do this to you?"  
"Wh. . . . wha?"  
"Demeetry. Why did he not shoot you?"  
It was a cruel question, but it needed an explanation.  
". . . . He. . . ." she started while she was breathing hard. The beeping pulse got faster.  
I put my arms against her shoulders. I wanted an answer! He wanted to kill her I know it! He was after their money and land! Why would he just pointlessly stab her?!  
"I. . . . don't know. . . ." she said as she opened her eye and stared at me.  
"You honestly don't know? He didn't say anything? Did he even take your money?"  
She looked up again, this time, more like she was trying to remember.  
"No. . . . Yeah, no. . . . Or. . . . ermm. . . . yeah. . . . yeah, I think. . . . he did. . . . maybe. Oh. I don't. . . . remember. . . ."  
She looked at the flowers and struggled to sit up, but failed. "Can. . . . you ask the. . . . nurse to put the. . . . bed up please?" she asked.  
She wouldn't remember anything that happened. She might have just woken up from being unconscious. I need to ask her this later, then she would remember. . . . hopefully.

I just simply pushed the button. I thought the headrest would rise but instead the whole bed rose and all the wires pulled all the electronic stuff across the floor! I pushed it again and the beeping increased and all the stuff was moving more!  
"Jake, you could have. . . . just asked the nurse," Mitsu said simply.  
"Sorry," I said as I pushed the button which I knew was the headrest. And her head rose and nothing moved which was a relief. I didn't even bother with lowering the bed.  
She chuckled to herself and stroked the roses again. "Jake. . . ." she started, "I think. . . . I know why Demeetry attacked me. . . . I remember now. . . ."  
I leaned forwards listening very carefully.  
"My. . . .father. . . . murdered. . . . his. . . ." I saw a tear trickle down from her eye.  
"His. . . . sister. . . . Mar. . . . ia. . . ."  
MARIA?!  
The beeping started getting really fast.  
The nurse ran in and found everything moved and saw the bed raised to its full extent. She gave me a glare. "Oh, you poor thing!" she said as she arranged everything and lowered the bed, and the beeping got slower.  
"When is she going to be out?" I asked.  
"I don't know. But not for some time. And when she does I'm not sure if she'll be able to walk."  
I saw Mitsu's eye widen. Poor girl. She didn't deserve this. I wanted to make up to her by taking her out to movie or a walk or something. But she got tortured by a mental.  
Demeetry. He should pay for what he did to her!

After the nurse left, I said to Mitsu, "Listen. I will never leave you again! You hear me, NEVER! And Demeetry. . . . DEMEETRY WILL PAY FOR WHAT HE DID TO YOU!"  
"Nn. . . . no, Jake. Revenge will never get you anywhere!" She had enough strength to speak more clearly and even sit up completely!  
"JUST LOOK AT ME!" she cried as her other eye slowly opened. "He tried to get me because of what my father did! Believe me, Jake! He wanted to kill me! But he wanted me to suffer! Revenge is no good Jake! Just listen!"  
I never noticed how beautiful she looked when her long, flowing curly hair was not tied up and her brown eyes shone without her glasses.  
"I'm sorry Mitsu. . . ." I said, "I'm sorry for everything. And I know that 'sorry' is not enough. It is not going to cure you. But, I will do my best to make sure this or anything like this will ever happen to you again!"  
She looked at me with her eyes shining brightly from the light. "Oh Jake. . . ."  
She clung onto me and started weeping. She was cold as ice in that gown. "I'm sorry too!" she cried. "I'm sorry that if I'm nuisance and I'm just getting in your way! Just let me know!"  
"Don't worry, you're not. It's my fault and I won't hurt you again." I told her as I shushed her.

We got back in the car again. "I think you made her feel much better," my mom told me. Yeah, I thought, she actually made me happy too. . . .

Adalard.

I shuddered. Why did I just think of Adalard just now?  
I will never find out about him. . . .

I got out my scanner from out of my back pocket and pretended like I was texting someone. Everyone thinks it's a weird cell phone.  
When I made sure that my mom wasn't looking, I pressed the red button. I was surrounded in blue numbers and letters once more, and there was a bright light again.  
I sheltered my eyes, just like I did before. And I thought I heard something.  
"Why?"  
That wasn't me. It sounded like a girl's voice. I took my arms down to see who said that.  
I could see it a bit more clearly, it was Odille!  
"Why. . . ?" she asked again.  
She was with someone. I couldn't make out who it was, but it looked like an Overworlder.

She stepped back, as the other proceeded towards her.  
"Why are you doing this?" she asked. "Why are you doing this when I love you so much?"  
No reply from the other. It just kept walking towards her.

"I love you too. . . . Odille," it said finally.

Then, it drew the knife out, stained with blood.

She fell backwards. . . .

The light blinded me again.  
That is just like what I saw last time!

Odille. . . . she was murdered by the one named Adalard. . . .

"ODILLE!" I yelled.  
"What is it, you?" she said as she appeared as the light quickly faded and I was in the castle.  
I tried to catch my breath, and asked, "What was that? Tell me!"  
"Why?" she asked curiously and yet solemnly.  
"Because," I smiled, "you know why."  
"What do I know?"  
"You know everything, Odille, you just are refusing to tell me, I know. But why?"  
She clenched her teeth and glared.  
"That. . . . that vision," I said, "is-"  
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT YOU NOT QUESTIONING ME?!" she screamed.  
"TELL ME! TELL ME ODILLE!"

I was thrown into the air by an invisible force. The sky was red. I could not see below me, but of course I knew where I was.  
The pain this time was immense! More immense than before! I could barely take it much longer. . . .  
I was being stabbed numerous of times by countless daggers. They were everywhere. Then more larger ones stabbed me unexpectedly from behind.  
I looked up, and Odille was there, looking down at me with fire in her eyes.

"TELL ME!" I bawled.

"TELL ME THAT OVERWORLDER IS ADALARD!"


	16. Chapter 16: No Longer Concealed

I. . . . I needed. . . . to know. . . .

I opened my eyes. I was in my room!  
I rubbed them and I actually was in the hospital. I saw Mitsu; she was still lying on her hospital bed. Her mom was telling her that she'll get better soon and hugged her.  
I got up to ask them why I'm here too. It must have been because of the punishment.  
But when I got up, I was in Odille's castle, lying on a bed as hard as a hospitals'. That's why I thought I was in a hospital.  
I scratched the back of my head. Maybe I was dreaming. . . . But at least I get to see Odille. . . .  
As I walked through the castle, I came across the room with Odille's portrait. What was weird about it was that the door opened for me. The memory of the white door opening for the vision of Corinne came across my mind.  
I shaked it off and went in the room. It seemed to be glowing from within. I looked on the other side of the wall to see her portrait. . . .  
It was upside down!  
Did Odille do this? But why upside down? I tried to adjust it, but. . . . my hands started trembling.  
I couldn't even do such as a simple task as turn the portrait? Why couldn't I do it?  
I tried doing it again, and this time, when I touched the frame, I immediately drew back my hands, not because they were shaking, but because it. . . . hurt.  
I looked at my hands. They were cut and starting bleeding. I could have sworn the frame was not THAT sharp, but still. . . .  
Why couldn't I do it? That painting needed to be. . . . perfec-BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I shrieked as I jumped in my bed. I was in my room again. I looked at my alarm clock as it continuously beeped. I was glad that it wasn't something else. . . .  
"Jake! You're going to be late!" my mom yelled from downstairs.  
"Com-ing!" I said as I turned off the alarm clock.

Today, school wasn't all that bad. Although, I wished I could have seen Corinne, or that weirdo Drew alone for some reason. . . .  
I shook as I remembered that dream, or was it even a dream. . . ? It felt like it was somewhat real. I mean, I don't even remember what happened after the punishment. For the last few days, I was ported home always after the punishment. Odille somehow must have made me port back to Earth. Perhaps by pressing my finger on the button. . . .  
I looked off into the sunset. I wish right now that Mitsu would ask me to walk home with her, with her cheerful smile. . . .  
I walked off alone.

I wondered often these days what they did to Demeetry. . . . I haven't heard of him since he stabbed Mitsu. Maybe they took him to jail, maybe they put him in a home, but I haven't heard anything from Mitsu or her mom about court or anything like that. . . .  
I walked past the skyscrapers, abandoned, ready to be demolished. I took a few turns here and there, the normal. Then, as I turned at a block, I saw that weird man I encountered the other day. I didn't want deal with him again, so I crossed the street. "LOOK OUT!" I heard as I turned.  
A police car was swerving around in the street super fast, and people on the sidewalk were getting out of its way. It was coming towards me. . . .  
I ran as fast as I could. I darted ahead to the other side of the street, but it was too late. . . .  
The interceptor skidded right in front of me, and stopped. I stood there in shock.  
The driver rolled down the window and revealed an old face. Thomas. Just great.  
"Hey," he said, "Get on in." So, I did, because I felt I had no other choice, and we drove off.  
I was thinking to myself, "I want to stay away from this freak. He wants to persuade me into telling the truth about Odille. . . ."  
"Hey," he said again. "Hey," I said back to him in a friendly manner, mocking him.  
He gave me a look of annoyance, but then looked forward, saying, "No, I know what you're thinking. I don't wish to know anything about Perim right now. We have other more important things to discuss."  
"Like what?" I asked, and looked out the window, "Where. . . . are we going?"  
"You'll see, but first, I have to talk to you about the night when the incident with your friend happened."  
"Which one?" I teased.  
"That's not funny. Anyways," he started getting out files from the backseat, "I ran through this guy's records, and. . . ."  
Then gave me a grave look, "Did he. . . . go to your school?"  
"Yes sir."  
"Well, do you know how many people he's killed?"  
"I. . . . I kinda have an idea. . . ." I said as I thought about it. I know there was that one guy-  
"Let me just say, A LOT. And that was while he was here. I'm new to this place, and I've never heard how bad crime activity was when I applied here. And in since we know each other well. . . ." he smiled, "Maybe we could work together."  
Work together? That might be fun. After all, I want to know what happened to Demeetry, and what happened that day when I. . . . left her.  
I was going to choke at the thought. And if he found out! He would tell my parents! And I-I-!  
"Well," he interrupted, "Anyways, I feel like I'm the only policeman." He lit his cigarette. "I was apparently the first one to start an investigation."  
The first?  
"What about the other policemen? The ones with you?" I asked.  
"Them?" He looked at me surprised. "They're not policemen. Just people that sit back and just get the money for no reason. I don't know why. Actually, to tell you the truth, I don't know too much about the department. It seems kinda fishy, if you ask me. But, I got the job. That's all that matters."  
Then, we arrived at some place unfamiliar to me. . . .

"Where are we?" I asked Thomas as we got out of the car.

He said nothing and I looked at the sign. Oh great, I thought.  
We were at a bar. But it's not just any bar, it might be the worst one in Duninton. It would normally be illegal for a kid around this age to go inside one. But, this is Duninton, a place with no rules.  
"Why are we here?" I asked.  
"Well," the officer chuckled to himself, but then told me with a more serious face, "we are here to discuss the case about Demeetry, of course." He chuckled again. And before I could ask him why he kept laughing, he said, "You see, I want that kid in jail. Just thinking about his cases gives me the creeps. I have this feeling that I'm next."  
"There's no jail in Duninton," I told him.

He froze. Then he slowly turned his head towards me.  
". . . . Whaaaaat?" he asked in a high, light voice.  
"But there is one a few hundred miles away, though," I assured him.  
He looked at me frozen in fear.  
"Ermm, Jake," he started, smiling, "who happens to be the mayor here?"  
"I don't know."  
"DON'T KNOW?! But how does he run the place?"  
"I don't know."  
He grabbed my shirt and said in a hoarse voice, "Listen, kid. How can you not know these things? That's pretty much impossible."  
"I moved here a while ago."  
He let go of my shirt.  
"Ah, you just had to move here, didn't you? Why?"  
"Because of my dad's work."  
"What's your father's occupation?"  
"He works for a computer company. And my mother found jobs in a few local shops."  
"Ask them who runs this place once you get back home," he told me.  
"I will," I shrugged. I would do anything just to get him to shut up and stop asking pointless questions.  
The gangs and farmers rule here. I don't know how nor why. But that's just how it is. Why I didn't want to tell him this? Because he's a jerk and wouldn't understand.  
We entered the bar. It was titled, "Dun Bar."  
I think the Dun was short for Duninton, but wasn't so sure. People came up with strange names here.

I wanted to close my eyes at what I saw in there, but couldn't. Officer Thomas wiped the drool off his face and turned to me.  
"What would you like to drink?"  
"Nothing."  
He shrugged and talked to the bar tender.  
I didn't pay any attention to what he was ordering. I looked at the kids playing cards at a table like a bunch of old men.  
What caught my eye is one guy with brown hair and eyes. He wore a vintage star wars tee-shirt draped over right leg. He seemed really familiar. . . .  
"Alright, Jake!" Thomas yelled in my ear.  
I turned towards him, gave him a mean look, and sat down.

"You know, officer, I need to be home right now," I told him. I didn't want to be here.  
"Relax, I'm sure your parents would understand once I tell them that-"  
"They thought you were investigating me before, at home, remember?"  
He gave me a look, and said, "Dang. You're one smart kid, you know that? Well, now I'm going to tell your 'rents that I caught you stealing. I'm sure they'll like that. . . ."  
I gnashed my teeth. I guess he knew that I didn't want to be here. But, I got up and left.  
"HEY!" he screamed, "Where are you going?!"  
I turned my head a bit and said, "Anywhere but here. I've got other places to be."  
"But-but-! What about your girlfriend, Mitsu? You wanted to know what happened to her? DON'T YOU? HUH?!"  
"I'm going to ask her myself. I think she recovered, and her memory will come back to her. Well, see you."

Even if I helped him, it wouldn't have mattered. He should get used to not solving every case. And I didn't want him to be so reliant on me and keep wasting my time.  
I had to get to Mitsu. This morning my mom came to me saying that Mitsu is already at home, somehow recovered from all of her injuries. I think she had some kind of surgery or something, and she could walk again after all. My mom said it was all because of me, but I don't know.  
Mitsu had answers for me, I knew. And I wanted to apologize to her one last time. I wanted to make sure she remembered! I mean, she was still recovering and might have not remembered it!  
And, she would be the excuse why I'm late for home. She'll tell my parents. They'd rather believe her and that weirdo policeman, anyway.

I headed towards Mitsu's place. It's not like I needed to drive, or anything! Duninton is so small you can just get about anywhere on foot. Stupid policeman!  
As I walked, I made sure that he didn't get in his car and drive towards me. And he never did. I don't think he even left the bar.  
I made the usual turns here and there. I wish I had a phone to call Mitsu. But all I had was my scanner. I turned it on and had a little more messages than usual. 7,459,234,002,568 messages.  
I swore I only had like 7,459,234,002,521 messages the last time I checked.  
BEEP! BEEP!  
I just got another one. It's from someone called LightofLuck. It said, "You know Officer Thomas?"

My eyes widened.  
Most of the messages I got said, "U wanna play?" or "Let's have a friendly match," but this is different.  
I know no one by the codename "LightofLuck." Unless, if they know me in real life. They had to! Or how else could they have known that I know him? I'm sure he just goes by Termin8er.  
It must be Drew, I thought.  
It had to be! That sneaky punk! I knew something was wrong about him!

But should I reply? I kept staring at the message. It didn't say anything else. And also, why would they ask me if I just know him. . . ?  
I just turned it off and stuck it back in my pocket. I had to think about this later. Right now I had to get to Mitsu. That's it.

I couldn't believe she's finally home and almost well. It's like a miracle. And I hope her eye is better. Before, she could barely open it.  
It was not long before I arrived at the large house. I went up to the gate and pressed the doorbell.

"Who is it?" Mitsu's mom said through the speaker.  
"Jacob Kurosawa. I'm here to see Mitsu."  
For some reason they always wanted me to give my full name. I guess it's because someone could try to impersonate me and just say, "Jake."

I entered the house.  
Mitsu's mom was waiting for me at the front door. I removed my shoes and continued in.  
"Mitsu actually wanted to see you today," she said, her short dark green hair slightly covering her content eyes.  
"Really?"  
"Yes, and I'm sure she'll be glad once she knows you're here. . . ."  
"Um, is. . . . is Mitsu. . . ."  
"Oh, she's fine. You know what? I think she'll walk after she sees you again. You're her medicine. Who needs a doctor?" she laughed.  
I looked around. I've been into Mitsu's house many times, but this time, the house changed. It had cobwebs in the corners and the walls were cracked. But I don't think someone broke in while Mitsu was in the hospital. . . .  
"Mitsu," her mom said through the door.  
"Yes, mother?" Mitsu asked. It seemed like she was sobbing.  
"Wait here," she ordered me and went in. She shut the door behind her and started saying, "Oh, sweetie, what's the matter?"  
I couldn't hear what Mitsu was saying, but she sounded really depressed.  
I looked through the keyhole. Her mom was hugging her while Mitsu sat in a chair, looking at some sort of photo.  
Her mom whispered to her, "Mitsu, Jake's here to see you."  
Then, she looked surprised and looked at the photo, put it on the shelf, and wiped off her tears.

While she was doing all this, I wondered what the photo was, and concluded that it must have been me. Or else, then she would have kept on to it. I think she really, truly missed me.  
And, she could stand and walk around normally again. That's what really surprised me. She was in the hospital just a few days ago. . . .

Her mom opened the door, with Mitsu right behind her.  
"Um. . . . Hi Mitsu." I said, trying to make a friendly smile.  
"OH JAKE!" she sobbed as she clung onto me. "I missed you so! How's school? How's home? How's-?"  
I shushed her, and kissed her cheek. I looked up while she cried and her mom had a look of relief and went past us, leaving us alone in the hall.

"I'm glad you came back. . . ." she muffled, her head buried into my chest.  
I walked with her into her room so that she could lie in her bed, but more importantly, so I could see who's on the picture.  
I didn't remember where she put it exactly, but I was sure it was on the right side of the room.  
The whole time I looked, and it wasn't there. She sobbed in her bed for a long time, and I was there, next to her, petting her.  
"Can you pass me that photo, Jake?" she finally said.  
I looked right next to her bed, and there was a photo.

It was not of me.

Instead, it was a photo of someone who looked like they were on a "wanted" sign.  
It was a tough looking man with a few scars across his face, dark, mean looking eyes, greasy short black hair, tan skin, and a small mustache.

I picked it up and gave it to her. She looked at it and sobbed some more. And it was only then that I noticed, she was normal again.  
Her hair was tied up in the casual way, and she had her glasses on. Her backpack lie in the corner of the room, all filled with papers and books.

"Are you going to school?" I asked.  
"Yes," she replied, half-crying now, "I plan to go back tomorrow."  
I looked at her with some sort of sadness, but not pity. I didn't know quite why, but maybe it's because I felt like I couldn't get to see Corinne and talk to her again.  
"My. . . . father. . . . I think he. . . ." she started, looking at the picture with hatred.  
"Is that. . . ?"  
"Yes," she answered for me. That was indeed her father.

"He. . . . killed. . . . Demeetry's. . . . sister," she said as she sobbed into the picture, and soon tossed it on the floor.  
"Really?" I asked in a kind tone, not made to offend her in any way.  
"Yes. . . . I always believed that he was a good person. . . . but now. . . ."  
I looked at the crack in the door, and Mitsu's mother was there again, looking upon her with regret, and left.  
"My mother told me," she explained.

She stopped crying now. We both looked at the broken glass together in silence for a few minutes now.  
"Yeah," she started, "and have you. . . . what have you been up to lately? Seen the girl with blue hair?"  
Corinne? What? How'd she find out?!  
"And. . . . maybe a few other girls as well. . . ."  
"STOP IT!" I yelled, "I'D NEVER BETRAY YOU!"  
"Well," she started again, "you seem to be texting SOMEONE. . . ."

I looked for a way out. She couldn't know that I played Chaotic.  
She now knows too much.

I went for the door. I had to get out.  
But as I went for the door, something sharp tore my clothes.  
A picture frame.  
I fell to the floor, with my shirt completely torn off.

She looked at me with fear and disgust. Her eyes wide open.  
I looked down to find the scar on my heart. . . . The big, pink, infected scar. . . . from the punishment.

"WHO IS SHE?!" Mitsu screamed at the top of her lungs as she walked towards me.  
I couldn't let her see it! I tried to hide it but she kept coming towards me! I tried to run away, but I just scrabmled into the corner.

"I KNOW YOU'RE WITH SOMEONE! WHO IS SHE?! LOOK! SHE'S HURTING YOU! DON'T THINK I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!"

I looked up in fear. The one whom I feared the most then was gazing down at me, with the eyes of fire.

I, I couldn't let her find out. . . .


	17. Chapter 17: Crisis

I immediately turned around and faced towards the corner. I breathed heavily.

"You've. . . . got it all wrong, Mitsu," I told her.  
"NO! I think you're the one who's 'got it wrong!'" she yelled. "I've TRUSTED YOU! I'VE LOVED YOU! AND YOU LOVE SOMEONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO HURT YOU!"  
She started sobbing again.  
I grabbed the torn shirt off the ground and put it on. Mitsu kept crying and covering her face, falling onto the desk, knocking down a few books.  
I got up. I said, "Listen, Mitsu. . . ."  
She looked up, hoping for a good explanation.

"YOU WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND, YOU HEAR! NEVER!" I screamed at her and left.  
I could hear her howling as I slammed the door behind me. I didn't see her mom anywhere. Just those white, cracked walls.  
She wouldn't understand, I kept thinking to myself as I wiped away the tears.

As I opened the front door, I thought about turning back and saying I was sorry. But I didn't have any explanation for my scar. She was right, I was with another girl. Odille. I then closed the door behind me, not looking back.  
I thought about Odille. . . . I haven't seen her for so long. I still wondered about Adalard, but I think I made a few conclusions about him. The first being-  
"Hey Jake!" I heard in a friendly, tomboyish voice.  
I turned around. It was Corinne. Just her, alone out here in the cold.  
She laughed, "What's going on, Jake?"  
I gave her a look. What, is she trying to pretend like her boyfriend doesn't exist? It's like she pretended to be all innocent. She wore her old style of clothing, casual jeans with a green tee. But, her hair was still tied up in that annoying pony tail and she still had make-up on.  
She shouldn't underestimate me so easily.  
"What are you doing here all alone?" I asked.  
She stopped smiling. "What?"  
"Where's Drew? I would think that you're with him. In since you are all the times I see you."  
She looked down solemnly, but then looked up at me apologetically. "Well, I. . . . I wanted to talk to you. . . . alone. . . ."  
She wanted me to like her again. She knew that ever since she met Drew, I hated her guts! I can't believe she is so smart, but then again, she's Corinne.  
"Why?" I asked in a deep tone.  
She looked around, trying to think of an answer.  
"Well. . . . I. . . . I. . . . he. . . ."  
"WHAT'S WITH HIM?!" I yelled in a surprisingly loud voice.  
She looked back at me in fear. I could see sweat coming down her forehead.

"He. . . . doesn't. . . . like. . . . me. . . ." she finally said in between sniffling. "I know, because he doesn't tell me anything about himself, and all he does is just hang around me like a lost dog. Every once in a while, he'll ask me to a date, but it always turns out to be a fail. And I just have the feeling that he's trying to use me. . . . and I have no time to hang out with any of my friends anymore! He keeps on using up all my time! So. . . . I BROKE UP WITH HIM!"

Then she started weeping. I thought about this. Could she have been lying to gain my trust? She never told a lie to me before in my life. And I. . . . I could never find the courage to. . . . tell her the truth. I was jealous of Drew. It felt like he took her away from me and transformed her into something horrible. But I was wrong.  
I should be the one who's sorry.  
"Corinne," I started, "I'm sorry. You probably knew that I didn't like Drew too much. It's my fault for making you feel this way about me. You don't have to lie to me, Corinne."  
She looked up in surprise.  
"Why. . . . would I ever lie to you?" she asked suddenly. "I did break up with him. I didn't want him to be around me anymore. I had enough of him!"

We waited around in silence. I knew now that she was telling the truth. The way she said it was like she truly meant it.  
"I'm sorry," I said after a while, "I thought you were here to gain my trust. But why actually did you come?"  
She said, still looking down, "I came here because I wanted to know how I was doing in Perim!"  
"Why. . . ?" I asked nervously.  
"Because I think I understand. I think I understand why I. . . ." she sighed.  
"Why. . . . what?"  
She said in a faint voice, almost like she was whispering, "Why I. . . . . . . . . . . love him."

I stared at her.  
"I know now that I actually do love Taffial," she started again, "Every time that I look at his card, I. . . . I remember all the things we did together. I blush every time I think about him. He appears in my dreams. And, I regret throwing out my scanner. I wished I had kept it so I could see him again. So, I'm going to make another account to try to get to him. I don't know what will happen, if there will be two of me, or the code would be just the same but. . . . at least I could try."  
My eyes twitched. I couldn't believe what she was saying! It made me so relieved to hear her say those words. But. . . . I don't know what would happen if she finds her dead body, which I think would happen if she does make another account. . . . And. . . .  
I have to tell her the truth! I have to tell her right now that she is dead! If I don't, she'll discover it! Or perhaps Taffial would tell her!  
"Corinne. . . ."  
"So? Does he like me? I mean, Taffial. Are we a true couple? But. . . . what if I co-exist with myself, like. . . . two of me?"  
"It's the same DNA, so I guess you'll be in one, I think," I tried to explain, although I didn't think it was quite right. But what if it was true? And she'll either be back alive, or dead, in Perim?  
"Corinne," I tried again, "In Perim. . . . there's something you need to know. . . . Have you heard of. . . ."  
I looked around to make sure that no one listened in on our conversation.  
SCREEH!  
Corinne looked behind me and I turned around.

A police car skidded on a turn and headed towards our way. Just great.  
I couldn't ask Corinne if she heard of Odille, or else Thomas would hear, but then, she wouldn't understand! How could I tell her? I should have planned this out before. . . .  
"Hey Jake," said the officer.  
I couldn't let him bother me again! Not when I'm so close! He's not going to take me away to question me further!  
I grabbed Corinne's hand and we ran in the direction of my house.  
"Wh-where are we going, Jake? Who's that policeman? Did you do something? Jake?"  
I would tell her once we got away from that man. Right then I had to concentrate on running. Thomas was a fast driver.

Corinne let go of my grip.  
I turned around.  
"I'm not going with you," she stated clearly.  
"Why? Hurry up! He's behind us!" I yelled.  
"Why are you running away?" she asked as she kept still.  
"Because he wants to pointlessly question me. Listen, there's something important that I need to tell you without him overhearing us!" I said while running in place, looking for a place to hide from him.  
"Alright, let's go in there." Corinne pointed to a dark alley.  
I grabbed her hand again and we hid in the darkness.

We stayed there until I heard him pass twice. I could tell because mostly no one took this road.  
I told Corinne that the coast was clear. We got out into the broad daylight.  
"So," she said, "what did you want to tell me? I know that it must be about Perim if you didn't want him to hear. He must know you."  
"Well, ermm, yeah, but. . . . Anyways, about what I told you before. . . . about you feel in love with Taffial already in Perim and you live there with him. . . . well. . . . I. . . ."  
"Yes, Jake. . . ." said Corinne, fully listening.  
I couldn't help more tears fall out of my eyes.  
"I. . . . I. . . ." I tried to say, but kept sobbing in between.  
"I. . . . lied."

Then, I turned around and started sprinting, leaving Corinne far behind.  
I couldn't do it! I failed! I couldn't find the courage to tell her that she died!  
But, I HAD to tell Taffial. I'm going to tell him that she is going to make another account, and she admits that she loves him.

So I ran happily, and yet my eyes still filled with tears, to my house while I got the blue scanner from my back pocket.

And with no hesitation, pressed the button.


	18. Chapter 18: Comprehension

I couldn't stop, no matter how exhausted I was.  
I had to get to Taffial. I didn't know what to do! If Corinne came to Perim. . . . Taffial would tell her that she already had died, while I lied! I couldn't let that happen! I had to tell Corinne myself that I had lied.  
No, I had to SHOW her. . . .

When I opened my eyes, it was dark.  
I panicked and blinked and rubbed my eyes again, but it was the same. Have I gone blind? Or am I not fully ported to Chaotic? Did I die?  
Then, suddenly a bright white light took over the darkness, but it blinded me. I covered my eyes.  
A cold wind blew through my clothing, and it felt like. . . . I was flying.  
I slowly brought my arms from my eyes. The white light was still blinding me, but I could see a little.  
I was cold as ice. The wind still blew, even harsher and colder than it was before. Through the long brown bangs, what lied before me. . . .  
The two figures again!

And then, I could see much clearer, and it was indeed dark. One figure stood tall and perusing, while the other took a few steps back and almost fell down a few times.  
I looked on through the window, and the two figures were inside, in a dark room with only a few candles to light it.

The smaller one let out a slight scream, with her long flowing silver hair falling back with her. The creature grabbed her wrist with a tight grip.  
"Why?" she asked.  
The black figure drew back a knife.  
"Why are you doing this?"  
He said nothing.  
"When I love you so much?!" She then wept.  
A smile spread across his face.

"I love you too. . . . . . . . . . . . Odille," he said in a dark tone.

He drew back the knife all covered in blood.  
She fell backwards, her long hair trailing in front of her. . . .  
He did nothing and turned around and walked casually.

The light blinded my eyes again.  
I knew what just happened.

"ODILLE!" I roared.  
I waited for the light to unravel, and soon enough, I opened my eyes, and Odille, her dress looking more worn, appeared before me.

She smiled.  
"Odille!" I yelled again.  
"What?" she asked. "What's with all this yelling, Jake? Don't you know it's not polite to greet someone by just simply yelling their name?"  
I sighed.

"Just do it," I said quietly.  
"What?"  
"Do it."  
"Do what. . . ?"  
"THE PUNISHMENT! DO IT NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"  
Instead of laughing or looking solemn, she gave me a questioned and yet annoyed face.  
"What? You haven't talked to me in some time. I missed you. You want to pass out again, that's it! So you can just leave me here alone! I'm bored you know, and I WAS going to give you a little break. But. . . . if YOU insist!"  
"I'm not going to pass out," I said cooly.  
"Oh? And why?"  
"Because I've got somewhere I need to be."  
"Fine then, let's just see!" she said as her eyes widened and put one hand in the air.  
A river of blood flooded my eyes, and, when I got to the surface, I could see the landscape.  
I was almost happy to see it. . . .  
Odille floated above me. "Jake, you still want to get it over with? I could save you, you know."  
"Can I just take this as the punishment?"  
"Swimming? No."  
"Or how about you pass me out, you know, like you did the other times?"  
"Ermm, maybe. But, will you promise to stay with me a while?"  
"Isn't your punishments your 'entertainment?'"  
"I got bored after a while!"  
"Well, why not just let me off for once?"

She looked around nervously. Almost like she was scared of something coming after her.  
She then looked at me.  
"Um. . . . no. Sorry, Jake." She said and I felt pain everywhere in my body.  
That's when everything went black.

Thank you. . . . Odille. . . .

I awoke in a chamber, all worn out with the paint of the walls cracked and paint peeling off. It was slightly different, but I knew I was still in her castle. I got up in a hurry.  
"Where are you going, Jake?"

I turned around in fright.  
Odille sat in a chair behind the bed.  
"Jake, where are you off too?" she asked sadly.  
"Well. . . ." I started, not wanting to hurt her feelings, "I've got to see Taffial. I have to tell him something urgent."  
"Oh. . . ."  
"But, Odille, I will come back. I want to see you more often. And. . . . thanks."  
She looked surprised, and happier.  
"For what?" she asked.  
I turned around and smiled.  
"For the punishment."

She looked down solemnly, and then looked up and blushed.  
I turned around again and sprinted out the castle.


	19. Chapter 19: Confrontation

"What?" Taffial asked as he looked at the artifact through a magnifying glass, carefully examining it.  
"Corinne," I started, "she. . . ."  
"She. . . . what?" he said, putting the magnifying glass down and picked up the carving and examined it all around, slightly paying attention to what I had to say.  
"Well, she. . . ."  
Taffial was too into his artifact. But he loved Corinne! He should be interested to what I had to say!

"She might come back."  
He stopped. The artifact shattered on the floor as he turned around.  
"What?" he asked, eyes widened.  
"Corinne might. . . . come back to Perim."  
"Are you sure?" He grabbed my shoulders.  
"HOW?!" he demanded, eager for her return.  
"Well, on Earth, you can make another account online, and, she'll get a code. . . . and return, here, to Perim," I explained.

He pondered about this as he looked down at the broken artifact. I waited for a minute before starting again. "But you see, I. . . ." I waited until he picked up the pieces of the artifact and setting them on the table.  
"She's. . . . going to come back. . . ." he said to himself countless times.  
"But-!" I wanted to say, but he still wasn't listening to me.  
"But. . . . you see, I. . . . I lied. . . . to her. . . ." I finally said.

"Lied to her about what. . . ?" asked Taffial, curious and demanding. He started towards me slowly.  
"Well, I, um. . . ." I said, taking a few steps back.  
"I couldn't tell her that she died here. . . ." I admitted, afraid of the creature.  
"Why not?" he asked in a low tone, yet still curious.  
"I. . . . told her that. . . . she lived here with you here because she loved you. . . ."  
"Why couldn't you tell her the truth, though?"  
"I. . . . I was. . . . too afraid to. . . ."  
"When did you tell her this?"  
"Um. . . . a few days ago. . . ."  
"YOU IDIOT! She could have ported here and. . . ." He looked questioned. He wouldn't know what would have happened if she ported here and she was already dead. Well, I don't blame him, neither could I!  
"But. . . ." he asked, "why DIDN'T she come here. . . ?"  
"I. . . . I don't know. . . ." I lied.  
He came closer and looked into my eyes.  
I was shaking. I was truly scared of him.  
"DO YOU THINK SHE WOULD LOVE YOU BACK?" I yelled quickly. He jumped back.  
"What makes you think I would believe that?" he asked.  
"Well, then why bother asking me why she DIDN'T come here? To love you, to be here with you because she LOVED you. . . . That's at least what I told her."  
He knew that I knew why.  
"Then?" he insisted, not knowing what else to say.  
"She threw out her scanner and said, 'I'd never love that creature! I hate him!' You should have seen her face when I told her!" I laughed.

He stared at me with hatred. "That's enough. . . . you little brat!" he said with a hoarse, low voice.  
"But!" I screamed, knowing he would attack.  
He quickly grabbed a piece of the fallen artifact with a sharp end from his table and pointed it at my neck and pushed me against the wall.  
I froze in place.  
"I don't care if she doesn't love me. I never did. . . . All I wanted. . . . was her to live happily. . . ." he said in that cold voice.

Then there was a long silence, and Taffial put the sharp stone down.  
"I. . . ." I started, "I'm. . . . going to show her. . . . her body, because I'm too scared to tell her the truth. You have to understand! I'm sorry!"  
He looked down and said, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't blame you for what you did. If I was you, I might have done the same thing. I would be too scared to tell her that she died. . . ."  
He looked up and asked, "You're going to show her her body?"  
I nodded. "Yeah. Then she knows for sure what really happened."  
"Is that possible, though?"  
"I don't know, but it's worth a try. And I can't do it alone. Wait here! I know where to get her body." And as I said this I got out my scanner and pushed the button.  
"Oh how horrified she will be!" I heard Taffial say to himself while I was enveloped in the blue numbers and letters.

When I arrived in Odille's castle, I saw her sitting there patiently expecting me, but yet a bit surprised.  
"So you do keep your promises," she told me, "I was pretty sure you just left me."  
"I would never leave you," I assured her. "But listen, I need Corinne's body. Is it still. . . ?" I was too horrified to finish the question.  
She leaned on her hand, smiling. "Why do you need that horrid thing?" she asked simply.  
"Well. . . . I lied to her on Earth," I explained.  
She figured it out and said, "Oh yes. . . . that human is still alive on Earth. . . . I forgot."  
"So I need to show her her body, but not here, for I'm afraid you're just going to kill her again. . . ."  
She raised an eyebrow in interest.  
"I need to bring her body to Taffial. I told her that she lives with him, but if we both show her her body. . . . it would just make live a hundred times easier. So, where's her body?"  
"Hmm," she smiled, looking up, "How are you going to get her body there?"  
I didn't think about that. Would it work if I ported with it? Or would I have to drag it across the whole desert?!  
"I. . . . don't know," I admitted.  
"Oh. Well then why should I waste my time thinking about it?" Then she whispered to herself, "You would think that he'd just remember where it was!"

The white door opened in my mind. I know where it was now!  
"Thanks Odille!" I said as I ran to the dining room. She laughed with satisfaction.  
I ran and saw the white door.

I stood there, petrified. I couldn't open it. But then I thought of Corinne.  
I shut my eyes tight and pushed the door open.  
It was pitch black inside, and I couldn't see anything. So, I turned back and got a candle from off the dining table. It was the same as I last saw it; old and covered in cobwebs.  
I came into the dark room, shining on everything I past. There were a few things in the room that I've never noticed before, like a little table and a few chairs here and there. But she couldn't be too far back, I thought, because when I opened the door last time she just appeared in front of me. But maybe Odille moved her.  
I continued and I tripped over something hard. I caught myself before I could fall and quickly turned around.  
It was a bright white skull.  
I jumped back. It almost looked fake, like those in haunted houses back on Earth.  
But this was real.

It wasn't Corinne, though. It couldn't be. Her head was not disconnected from her body, and Odille would be bored of her before that would happen, knowing her nature.  
So I looked on, and in one of the chairs, laid a body in it.  
I jumped again, and this time, almost dropped the candle, but caught it.

I looked again, shining more light on it. A dead body laid in the chair like a broken doll. It was half decomposed. I was about to vomit. And, it had light blue hair, considering most of the pigment would be gone from it by now, and eyes that were deep abysses, and blood still stained the tears.  
I shined the light more on her body, and her arms laid on the armrests and her legs were dangling down.  
The last time I remembered her limbs were torn off.  
I looked closely, and it was like her arms and legs were sown back together. . . .

I looked at Corinne sadly. It was like she wasn't dead, but just merely sleeping on the chair.  
I didn't know what would happen if I brought it and she appeared. Would her body vanish? Or would she just be dead again? Or maybe she could not come back here again? I did not know the answer.

After a long hesitation, I lifted her body up.  
She was cold as ice and her limbs fell, again like a doll.

I held back the tears and with one hand got the scanner from my back pocket. And with the other, set down the candle on the table so just in case this didn't work, and then pressed the button.  
I was enveloped in the blue letters and numbers, hoping Corinne would come along.

I wound up in Taffial's room, the same one we were in before, and the red Mipedian worked on fixing the artifact he broke on the small table.  
He heard me and turned around.  
"Jake. . . ." he said in a voice filled with sadness.  
I found myself still holding the body of Corinne with the scanner in hand.  
I sighed in relief and hugged her tightly.

He rushed over towards me and I set her on the ground.

"Corinne. . . ." he muttered as tears filled up his eyes and he threw himself upon the body.  
I kneeled down next to both of them and just stared at him, understanding his pain.

It was a long time before he stopped sobbing, and he then got up and wiped away his tears.

"I'm relieved that her memories of this will be gone when she returns to Perim," he finally said.


	20. Chapter 20: Sorry

"Jake?" asked my science teacher. . . . again!  
"What is it?" I asked, opening my eyes.  
"Rise and shine, Jake! I need you to pay attention to this part. It's going to be on your next test!"  
I sat back up into a normal position, but I paid no attention to what she was saying. I looked out the window. It was raining again.  
It reminded me of the tears that once ran down a young, innocent girl's face. My heart sank at the thought.  
This is not the first time I was reminded of her. All day the rain bothered me.  
The memories of when I left Mitsu haunted me.

But I didn't know what else to do! And now I don't know how to make it up to her. I hoped that she wouldn't start rumors about me, and she didn't. I never really saw her much at school ever since our encounter, just passing by in the hallways, glaring down sadly through her glasses, the scar still on her left eye.  
The bell rang and interrupted my thoughts.  
"Jake. . . ." started my teacher, concerned. "You need to do something about your grade-s!"  
I ran off. I couldn't deal with her right now.  
"Jake!" I heard her call from inside the classroom. "Come back! Please! I'm only trying to. . . ." and the rest faded as I ran through the crowds of people. They stared angrily at me as I shoved through them.  
"Hey! Watch it!" I heard a guy say. He was tall and muscular and his cigarette almost fell out of his mouth. He looked pretty beat up. He had a black eye and a few scars here and there. He looked familiar to me. . . . He was from Demeetry's gang!  
But why was he all alone?  
I closed my eyes and waited for the blow.

But nothing happened.  
I opened them and he just gave me a sad glare. It was like tears were about to pour from his eyes.  
He just went past me like nothing happened and walked on.

I just stared for a while and started running again.  
I pushed my way between the people and just kept running, ignoring the angry kids I passed.  
But I bumped into one and the kid just stood there.  
I almost fell, and beautiful violet eyes stared into my soul.  
They were staring at me coldly but yet calmly through long, dark brown bangs.

Drew just stood there, looking at me impatiently.  
"You're in my way," he said with his soft voice.  
I didn't know what to say or do. I just stared.  
"You're in my way," he said again, growing more impatient.  
"I'm. . . . sorry," I said as I went passed him, and his cold violet eyes following me.

I searched everywhere for the sight of green hair in pigtails. Or maybe, a sight of some large round glasses at least! I wouldn't think that Mitsu would not go to school today. That's just not her.  
I got to the front of the school. Maybe she went home already! At least I knew the way.  
So I continued running, no matter how exhausted I was. I had to keep running. . . .

But there she was, patiently waiting on the edge of the curb.  
Mitsu was standing there, with her normal pigtails and huge glasses. Although, she looked rather content and pleased rather than her normal sad, solemn mood.

"MITSU!" I called out.  
She jumped and looked to see who it was.  
I stood there, panting, my heart beating faster and faster.

A cold gust of wind broke the long silence.  
"Mitsu. . . ." I started. "Listen. About the other day. . . . I. . . . don't know how I got that thing. . . ." I put my hand over my chest. ". . . . on my chest. I. . . . Listen Mitsu. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just. . . . I have a few things going on right now. And, I'm not with another girl. I love you and I don't want to lose you."  
"I'm sorry too," she said after thinking about it. "I. . . . I think I'm. . . . just jealous. . . . that's all. . . . And it wasn't right of me to scream at you like that."

I was glad this was over with. I thought it would have been harder, and I wondered why she understood me that I "didn't know" how I got it. . . . Perhaps she thinks I have some sickness or something. I don't know, but at least we're together again. That's all that matters.  
So, we walked home together. And Mitsu was very happy, I could tell by the smile that spread across her face after I said, "Good-bye, Mitsu," and left.

"Hey Jake!" I heard once after I left the house.  
I turned around and the blue-haired girl stood there with a cheerful smile.  
"Hey, Corinne," I said, quite pleased.  
"Jake! How am I doing in Perim?" she asked, "Oh! I can't wait to go there!" Then she sighed.  
She spoke again, "I am so close to getting another code to Perim. . . . I hope I get one."  
"You will," I said gravely, and then I warned her, "And once you get there, you will see something you won't like."

I turned around and walked on, leaving Corinne behind me, knowing what I said was at least as good as telling her the truth.


	21. Chapter 21: Penalty

I was positive she didn't come after me. I just kept walking, and as I did, I thought of Taffial. Was this what he would have wanted? I thought. Maybe this won't work and she will never be able to return to Perim! Then what? Would Taffial never see his love again? For a mistake I made? Would Corinne ever forgive me?  
"Well, well, look who it is!" I heard a hoarse voice laugh.  
Officer Thomas stood right in front of me and puffed a smoke in my face. I coughed and I said in between, "Why are you here now Officer?"  
"Oh come now ol' pal! Don't you know I need your help!"  
"Demeetry's old news. No one cares now!"  
"How about Mitsu? Doesn't she want her revenge?"  
"No, she doesn't need any more money, and besides, that's time-wasting."  
"Not really. Come on, I need to solve this case SOMEHOW."  
"No you don't, none of the other cops care. If they did, they'd help you."  
He held me up by my collar.  
"Listen, kid! I need-!" he stopped himself.  
". . . . money. You know, how am I supposed to work for a living if there is none?"  
"There are other jobs you can find here, sir," I said as he let go.  
"Well, it was nice talking to you, but I have to go," I said, walking past him.  
"Where?" he asked. It was none of his business, so I didn't answer. I just kept walking, hoping those two won't follow.

As I kept walking home, those visions started to haunt me. Who was Adalard? Why?  
Why did he kill Odille?  
I wanted to know. It has been too long to hide the truth. The only way I can find out is going to Perim.  
I pulled out the scanner, it's blue paint shining brightly from the sun. I stared at the red button. . . .  
If I pushed it, would it really tell me the truth? Would it tell me why Odille was murdered at that time? Would it. . . . would I. . . . do something about it. . . ?  
I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I was prepared to face destiny. I finally pushed the button, one last time.

All was quiet and white.  
Then there were positioned the young Mipedian, Odille, terrified, stepping back towards the wall. There was Adalard, a creature who looked almost human, who had golden hair tied into a long ponytail, long bangs hiding behind elf ears, his pale skin shone green, and his bright blue eyes glittered with malice.  
He pursued her, blocked her, leaving her no way out.  
He was holding a dagger. The golden dragon patterns and jewels shined intensely on it.  
His gloved hand reached out for her as she shrieked.  
His large hand grasped her small, delicate shoulder.  
Odille looked around, panicked.

"Why?" she asked, her innocent eyes gazing up at him.  
He brought up his arm, preparing to strike.  
"Why are you doing this?"  
He smiled.  
"When I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!" she cried, and Odille continued to weep.

"I love you too, Odille," he said coldly.

The dagger fell into her body.  
Her eyes widened as she fell back slowly. Her long, flowing silver hair trailed in front of her beautiful violet dress.

As she fell towards the ground, Adalard drew back his dagger, all covered in crimson blood. It trailed along with her hair, and it stained her dress as well.  
He laughed and turned around.

He walked off into the distance casually.

As Odille lie dead on the cold dark ground, Adalard started to run.

The quiet white was gone.

Odille stared at me.  
She looked a little bit older than she did in the vision.  
Her eyes then looked down, her green-yellow eyes forming crystal tears.  
I walked up to her and wiped them off with my thumb. I then sat down next to her, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"Adalard. . . ." I said. "Thank you, I know. . . . Now I know who. . . . who he is. . . ."  
She looked up.  
I smiled, not the smile of the creature called Adalard, but the human called Jacob. . . . no, Jake.  
She started to weep again.  
"I. . . . I don't want to torture you!" she cried.  
"It's alright," I whispered, "You must do this. You must. . . ."  
"But. . . . but. . . ."  
I shushed her and hugged her.  
She was tangible, soft, and warm.

"Please," I begged, "please. . . . do it. I need to be punished. This is my destiny. . . . It was not right for you to die. . . . It wasn't!" At that last word even I started to burst into tears.  
She still looked at the ground solemnly.  
"Please?" I asked.

"No!" she yelled, brushing me off.  
But as she said this the landscape changed from the dark castle into the one of the punishment.

She looked around in horror as I was being thrown into the hard ground.  
"COME ON!" I screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! PUNISH ME!"

She looked at me sadly as the brown skulls started darting at me, she looked sadly at me when the daggers flew through my body, she looked at me sadly while I was drowning in the ocean of blood.  
She looked on. . . . sadly.

And as the punishment went on, it hurt. More than the others had been.

But the truth was the thing that hurt most.  
This truth hurt more than all the others, the fact that Corinne died, the fact that I loved more than one woman, the fact that I even played Chaotic. . . .

I never knew, but I was lying to myself.

I was Adalard.


	22. Chapter 22: Odille

The cold icy wind blew through me as though I wasn't all there, my long gone feet disappearing with it. I tried to hold back my tears with all my heart, but it did not succeed. They were flowing out carelessly, and I could not stop them. I tried to wipe them away, but they went through my flesh and vanished once they came to the ground.  
I wept as I looked at him. Jake was lying on the floor. I tried to pull him up onto a more, comfortable surface, but my hands cannot grasp his warm, breathing, living body.  
As his bright red blood slowly disappeared, my tears fell less, but my pain was still terribly great.

He had loved me.

He was not like Adalard, and it was unnecessary for him to suffer for something he had not done. This was all my fault. He did not need to be punished.

"Nn. . . ." he moaned as he was fully healed. I floated to him and looked at him with care. All of his injuries were gone, and he regained full conscience.  
It frightened me of what he said. I remember clearly how he said it.  
"DO IT NOW! PUNISH ME!"  
I didn't want to! This whole time he didn't deserve it! I hurt him! He was going to die all because of me.

He was supposed to die the next time he took the punishment.

That would have been the last of his life in Perim. And Adalard would be erased forever in the sands of time.

"O. . . . Od. . . . Odille?" he said faintly.  
"What is it Jake? I'm here! Are you hurt? How do you feel?"  
He seemed to never remember what I say to him after the punishments. He would always tell me how harshly I punish him and never cared about him before, but I always wanted to help him afterwards.  
After the first three punishments I felt that I would never be satisfied again with them.  
When I was little, I would always have nightmares, of skeleton heads and a landscape that was filled with blood and terror.  
The punishment is my nightmare.

"I'm. . . . fine. NGH!" He clutched his teeth together in pain. I tried to help him, but my arms just kept falling through him. I watched him as he suffered in pain and I couldn't help him. I wanted to grasp onto him, feel his nice warm skin, to help him. . . .  
"Odille," he said comfortably, as he gently wiped off my tears, "don't cry. It's over. . . . ok? And I need to be punished. . . . for what I did to you. . . . I felt your soft delicate arm when I grabbed it. . . . and it felt like it would. . . . ngh. . . . shatter at any moment. . . . So, Odille. . . . I'll be here to. . . . take the punishment. . . . next time. . . . so. . . . I. . . . will. . . . feel. . . . relieved-"  
"DON'T SAY THAT!" I cried. "YOU DON'T DESERVE IT! LISTEN TO ME, YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE ADALARD!"  
He looked up at me and smiled painfully, and he stroked my neck.  
"No. . . . I am. . . . Adalard. . . ." And at that last word he fell unconscious again.

I looked around panicked, and saw the portrait that Adalard drew of me, and looked back at Jake. This human was the creature I once knew. Adalard killed me.  
Jake would never kill me.

I hurriedly tried to grasp his scanner, and I held it in my hands as my tears fell upon it. It was blue. It was a symbol of the Overworld.  
I then was tangible again, and held Jake tight.  
Time passed by as I wept on his shoulder. I couldn't help but feel ashamed of what I did to him, and he forgave me, although it wasn't his own fault.  
Then I decided for him to return to Earth, and he shall never come to this castle ever again. He shall never see me. I won't be waiting for his return this time. It is over. The punishment is over.

I kissed him on his soft, warm cheek. Then, I laid him on a chair, and took his hand and held it up against my face, soaking it with tears. I stared at him for a long period of time until the tears ceased.  
Then I gently took his finger in one hand and the blue device in the other.

"Good-bye, Jake."

He then was surrounded with the magical blue numbers and letters, the bright blue and white lights shone on him as he slept, spiraling around him.

He then vanished forever.

I still stared at the chair on which he sat. Then I went up to it and hugged it. The tears started to flow out again.  
"Don't cry," Adalard once said to me, "your eyes start to turn a disgusting pink. It doesn't match to your beautiful golden irises. Come now, I can't paint you looking like that."  
I jerked forward and covered my mouth as more tears ran down.

"Jake," I whispered softly, "you are nothing like him. How can you not understand that?"

After I wept for a long time on the chair, I started to look around the castle for some way to destroy it.  
Memories of Adalard started to haunt me.  
I looked up at the first portrait he did of me.  
"I wish you used attacks, or healed, or something!" he said.  
"But. . . . I don't like fighting, and I wish I would never have to heal anyone because I feel that, they would just get up and fight again." I said back to him.  
"Odille. I'm going to paint you with a splendid orb in your hands, so that in the future at least creatures wouldn't think you were a good-for-nothing."  
"Ok. . . ." I agreed.  
He was right, I was a good-for-nothing, expect that I was beautiful, that's what he told me.

I looked at the portrait and just left it there.  
That would be the last reminder of the one called Adalard.

I roamed through the hallways, the candles lighting my way and being destroyed as I passed them. I remembered how frightened Jake was when he ran through these halls, tripping on the checkered floor. At the time I laughed at his foolishness, but now I could understand his fear.  
Once I got into the grand ballroom, I looked up at the high ceiling, and the enormous chandelier above. On the walls were paintings of Mipedians, happy, and Adalard did not draw these, but my Mipedian ancestors, who only drew nice, happy, peaceful scenes.  
I raised my hand and the walls cracked. The Mipedians' smiles turned to frowns as the cracks got to them, and they shattered, one by one, within minutes. Then the chandelier cracked and its pieces fell onto the ground, but they fell right through me.  
"Will you take my hand and dance with me?" young Adalard asked, looking up with  
That was the first time I blushed, and we were both happy, dancing together alone in this large ballroom.  
Those memories vanished with the room.  
I then went through the large dark archway into the dining room, the ballroom collapsing behind me.  
I looked at the food still upon it, all rotten and covered with cobwebs.  
I had longed for the taste of food for so long I don't remember.  
I don't even remember the last thing I ate.  
But what was set on the table. . . .  
"I want to run away and get married!" I cried to Adalard.  
He covered my mouth and we hurried to a small room.  
"I know!" he said, "But be quiet about it! I don't want anyone knowing I'm here!"  
"I'm sorry, I just. . . ."  
"It's ok, Odille. But where could we run? The Overworlders won't accept you!"  
"Well. . . ." I pouted, "maybe we can just go out into the desert somewhere and. . . ."  
"It's too dangerous! And what if a Mipedian spy finds us and turns me in? Or there are monsters out there?"  
"Like. . . . those war beast things?"  
"Maybe. I don't know if those myths are true. But that's not the point, Odille!"  
"What if. . . . we go towards the Underworld?"  
His eyes twitched at the word "Underworld," but remained calm about the situation.  
"That's too far, Odille, and the Underworlders won't accept me. Do you know anyone who lives in a remote part of the desert?"  
I shook my head.  
"Then I don't know what to do. . . ."  
And then the guards came closer to the room.  
"Odille. I need to go! But don't worry, I'll be back. I promise." After he said this he pecked me on the cheek.  
He waved as he opened a window in the room.  
I waved back and he jumped out of it, leaving me all alone.

Once, Adalard and I planned the wedding feast, and brought so much food it filled the table!  
And that still remained here.

I watched it crumble to pieces, the cake, the food, the drinks, everything. It all fell to the ground and slowly vanished.

I turned towards the room with the white door.  
That was the room where Adalard and I discussed.  
I opened the door, and I was used to seeing the girl sitting on the chair. I truly did not wish to kill her, but I had to. Neither creature nor human was allowing in the castle except the one who was the reincarnation of Adalard.  
I lied to Jake because he was too naïve to understand all this, and so I just said that she wasn't pretty and I couldn't use her.  
Actually, I thought she was beautiful for a human. With her nice figure, glowing emerald eyes, hair that was blue as water.  
I was glad to have Jake take her to her lover, because now she won't be destroyed.

The candle on the table flickered lightly and it soon went out. By that time everything in the room shattered.

I went out of the room. The entire castle shook. I went through the many walls as they collapsed behind me, and went into the room I hated the most.  
My bedroom.  
There lied all of Adalard's paintings on the wall.  
I stared at them for a long time, and soon after raised my arm again and destroyed them all. They slowly cracked from the middle on out and they soon turned into dust.  
I looked where the large white bed lie. It was no use, I thought, I never slept for a very long time.

But part of the punishment is that. . . . when Jake would die, I would go into a long, eternal slumber, everlasting death. . . . that I longed for so long. . . .

I went through all the walls. The castle was to collapse soon, so I made my way towards the huge black doors.  
I never went out through these doors after I died. I have longed for that freedom, that freedom to see the happy sun once more, to go wherever you wanted too, not to be locked up in this dark castle. . . .

I looked on as the walls fell, and the only thing that remained was Adalard's first portrait. It and the wall it was on, stood while all else perished to oblivion.

I couldn't wait any longer; I needed to see the sun. I heard stories about how Mipedians loved the sun and its warmth, with the sand beneath their feet, and they could turn invisible whenever they wanted to. While I, I was not allowed to ever leave the castle because my parents said that it was too dangerous. So I was in the cold darkness my whole life, never knowing what it was like outside.  
I pushed the door, because I could not go through it. It was my only barrier.  
But that barrier needed to be broken right now! I pushed with all my strength, and it finally heaved open once the castle crumbled.

At first sight I was blinded but not badly for I have seen the sun before, a few times when the windows were open in my life.  
But for all these solons I haven't seen the sun. The windows were all shattered and filled with cobwebs.  
I covered my eyes with my arm, and once my eyes adjusted to the light, what I saw was breathtaking.

The desert.  
It was like the stories I was told, it was bright, and the sand looked like it went on forever. There was nothing but a few cactuses in the distance.  
I flew forwards as the shadow I was under started to become smaller. I looked up at the large castle.

It was hideous.  
Adalard once told me this, but I didn't believe him because I thought it would look more like the inside, but it didn't.  
It was just large and black, with many small pillars at the top, with windows shattered and grey.  
Then the castle started to collapse from the inside, the tallest pillars falling first, and the others followed, and the castle fell inwards.

I did not look on to see the castle finally collapse. I turned my head to look at the beautiful outside world.  
For the first time in my life, I finally felt the warmth of the sun once the shadow disappeared.  
I closed my eyes and embraced it, felling my scales tingle, absorbing true sunlight. I spun around in pure happiness.

This would be the second best thing in my entire life.

I looked into the distance, thinking about Jake.  
I hope he will have a happy future, and find a mate and have children and grandchildren and forget about me. He won't have to worry about me anymore, I will be in peace.

He is not Adalard, and yet he took the punishment. I truly loved him. He would never harm me, no matter how badly I hurt him. He would drown in the sea and die for my sake. . . .

Adalard. . . . I would never forget how he use to smile at me. . . . showing his clean, white teeth and his green cheeks turned bright pink, putting his gloved hand behind his blonde hair in embarrassment or love. He would paint me while my parents were away, in that secret room, and I he asked me to hang them up in my bedroom. No one ever saw them, because no one dared entering the king's daughter's bedroom without permission.  
Adalard was not only a splendid painter, but also a fierce warrior, like a good Overworlder should be. He would always brag about how he won so many battles and how it was good so that he could sneak into the castle. He was a happy creature, nice and caring, until that one day. . . .

He stormed into the castle, and he killed all the guards. My parents to see what was going on, but it was too late, Adalard killed my mother, and my father fought him in a long battle but lost. I was hiding in my bedroom, because I thought it was a thief, and I hoped Adalard would come and rescue me.  
When he broke in, I was happy.  
"Oh Adalard! You've come to rescue me! Please! Let's get out of here and run away! We can live together forever!" I cried.

He walked over the door in silence.  
"Adalard? What's wrong?" I asked.  
He just kept walking towards me.  
"Adalard? How come there's no sword in your sheath?" I asked in fear. I thought maybe he had lost his sword fighting the thief.  
He just kept walking towards me, and he started to smile a little bit.  
I stood there in fear, not knowing what was going on.

"Odille, you're very beautiful," he said.  
I started walking backwards, still frightened.

His eyes widened and he smiled maliciously.

He drew out his dagger and pointed it at me.

I started walking back further, still not comprehending. I thought maybe the thief was behind me.

He perused me, and I screamed.

His hand then came down on my shoulder, silencing me.

"Why?" I asked.

He drew back the dagger.

"Why are you doing this?"

He said nothing, the smile still spread across his face.

"When I love you so much!"  
Then I started to weep.

The only one he wanted to kill was me.

"I love you too, Odille," he said as the pain went through my heart.

I fell back, his smile widened on his face as it was covered with blood.  
Then, the only other thing I saw was my long flowing silver hair, trailing in front of me.

I watched from the floor as Adalard walked away.

Then, I felt my heart stop beating, and I could breathe no longer, I tried and tried, but it was of no use.

My eyes then started to close. . . .

I was then raised, and I was transparent, I could see through my hands. I panicked, not knowing what was happening to me.  
And it was only later that I found out that I was a ghost.

I saw Adalard walk on, and I wanted to call out to him, but then the scenery changed.  
It was the one of my nightmare.  
I was horrified, and Adalard was tortured, skulls and daggers attacking the one that I loved.  
I wanted them to stop, but Adalard was already dead and he fell into the ocean of blood.

Once the location changed back into the castle, I looked for Adalard, but he was nowhere. He vanished.  
And it was not only him, the guards, my parents, they were gone as well.

I wept. I cried for many solons and no one heard my cry.  
But then one day, after so long, there were a group of Mipedians. They came into the castle, they were different colors, brown, red, yellow, green, and they were all looking for something.  
I didn't know what to do, so I hid. I hid behind the archway, and when they appeared just before the archway, I went back more, and before they reached it, blood started coming out of them, out of their eyes, noses, their bodies.  
They ran out of the doors and I heard one say, "Hey! What's-"  
But he was horrified what happened.

I wanted to go and help them, so I flew towards them, trying to see what did this to them.  
"A ghost!" one screamed, and they started to attack me.  
I was paralyzed.

But nothing happened.  
I looked behind me, and I saw the wall was damaged.  
I looked back at them and they screamed and ran.  
As they did, I brought out my hands and said, "No! Wait! Stop!"  
And they were all covered in blood.

My nails were stained crimson and I looked at my palms.  
They were all red, soaked in blood.  
"I. . . . did this?"

And then I cried.

Then a red Mipedian came in, he was wearing mostly green and brown.  
"I don't believe in ghosts!" he said as his fellow companions screamed.

I came down to the floor and wept more. I didn't want him to die.

"Hey, is there someone in there? Are you hurt?" he asked as he was looking around.  
"STOP!" I yelled.  
He stopped in place, and saw me kneeling on the ground, weeping.  
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked as he ran over towards me, "You're all covered in blood-"

And at the last word I saw his head torn off and fell on the ground right beside me.

I screamed and cried more. I flew away to the top of the archway, choking on my tears in horror.

"Hey! What's going on in there?" another asked.  
He came in, and he was red like the other one, but he was a lighter shade of red and he wore a hat, loincloth, and leggings that were green and had light brown outlining.  
"Get out of here!" I screamed, "Get out of here while you still can!"  
He paused and looked around, shining his torch in front of him.  
"A girl. . . ?" he murmured to himself.  
"Hey!" he yelled, not knowing where I was, like the other one. "Where are you?"  
I looked down.  
The other Mipedian vanished!

I looked at the one calling out to me, he was walking towards the other Mipedian once laid.  
"Don't move!" I yelled. "Look up!"  
He stopped and looked up, shining his torch upwards.  
"The archway, but don't come any closer!"  
"The. . . . archway?" he said softly.  
"On top of it!" I said.  
He looked up at me and shone his torch in my direction.  
"I can't see you! Do you need help getting down?"  
"No! GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled on the top of my lungs. "I'm a ghost, you might get killed!"  
"A ghost?" he asked as he came past the spot where the other Mipedian died.

He shone his torch on me, and I just sat there, weeping.  
He jumped back, but then came closer.

"So it is true. . . ." he said to himself.  
"I told you not to come any closer!" I yelled.  
"But I'm not dead now am I?" he asked. "Listen, I'm an archeologist, we didn't come here to hurt you. Why are you still in this old relic? The Mipedian monarchy moved elsewhere."  
"Because I lived here. . . ." I answered.  
"You. . . ?" he wondered, and two Mipedians came behind him.  
"What's your name?" he asked.  
There was nothing I could do except cry and tell the truth.  
"Odille. . . ." I said between sobs.  
The two Mipedians ran closer to him as he looked up at me in wonder.  
"TAFFIAL! DON'T-!" one screamed as they both fell to the ground.

Taffial turned around to see his falling comrades, and I started to cry more so.  
"Why did you do that?" he asked. "They were my friends!"  
"I. . . . don't know!" I cried, trying to make him understand.  
He stared at me as one Mipedian who appeared out of nowhere came from behind him and grabbed him and pulled his arm.  
Taffial dropped the torch.  
"Come on! You need to get out of here! It's dangerous!" he hollered as he dragged Taffial away.  
But he just kept looking up at me, staring. "I'll come back, ok? I'll save you-!" he said as the large black door shut in front of them.

I flew down to the floor, trying to wipe away my tears, and all the Mipedians that I killed were gone.  
The castle was clean, and lonely.

Then the next encounter I had was when Jake came.  
I don't know why Jake could go about in the castle like he did, and why I didn't kill him. And that girl, Corinne, she walked on and when I found out that they were here, I came to her and tried to warn her not to go any further into the castle, it was too late. She died, in front of me, her limbs were pulled off and her eyes were pushed in as she fell towards the ground.  
Again I cried in horror, and I heard someone yell for Corinne.

That was Jake.  
And when I found him deep in the castle, and he found Corinne dead, he was also as horrified as I was.  
"She's dead," I told him.  
Then he turned around. He was scared of me.  
And when I saw his face, I knew that he was Adalard.  
And so did the nightmare.  
Then, it took him and he was tortured.

This was the punishment of Adalard.

After then, he wanted to scan me, I knew it couldn't hurt me, but I had this feeling like he was going to tell other humans, and I didn't want them to die, so I wouldn't let him scan me. And I also told him that he couldn't even play his Chaotic matches because he would tell everyone there, and they would come here and die.  
But I did let him go to Earth, so that if he told anyone there, at least they couldn't get here.

I knew a little bit about these humans, I was told stories about them and how they could teleport from their planet to ours and scan us, and become us in their Chaotic matches.

And if I let him scan me, he would know about Adalard, and his own fate.

And when he would teleport to Perim, I used magic to make him teleport here, by spelling his scanner. So that way, after the punishment, he could talk to me, and keep me company, after all these years of loneliness.

And I knew that when he would teleport out and would come back, my nightmare would take him and punish him every time he came here.  
I knew he would come back.  
I knew that he loved me, he thought I was beautiful, as Adalard thought. It was because he was Adalard.

But I finally figured out that he truly loved me and could never be the monster that Adalard once was.

But perhaps Adalard did love me.  
Maybe he loved me before, and he just decided to turn his back on me.  
Or maybe it was because we were in different tribes.

This wouldn't have happened if we were in different tribes.

It would have turned out to be a happy future, where we get married and have children, and love each other. . . .

But it didn't happen. That's all that matters now. I will never have the future that I dreamed of.

As I looked on at the long, sandy, bright desert, I could feel like I was vanishing.

I stared into the dead future and my legs started to crumble and fall, disappearing once they got to the ground, like a broken doll.

I stared at the dead future, as I felt my dress peeling off in pieces, and vanishing in thin air.

I just stared, finally knowing the happiness of love, as my silver hair broke, and one by one, the pieces disappeared before they fell to the ground.

I looked on, remembering the happy memories of Adalard, Jake, and Taffial, and how nice they were to me, as my arms started to crumble, break and fell, vanishing with the calm, warm desert breeze.

I stared into the happy future, knowing that the punishment of Adalard is over, as my face cracked and broke, the pieces disappearing once they fell to the bright, rich sand.

I stared into the true future, knowing that I am now free, my eyes, vanishing along with everything I saw and remembered.

I am now at peace.

The End.


	23. BONUS Chapter 23: Demeetry

The cold wind blew through my hair, the blonde bangs floating among it. Through them, I looked at Maria. How beautiful she was. She had blue eyes like the sea, and hair as black as darkness, but yet shown like that of a raven. Her skin was pure white.  
She was an angel.  
But now she lied underground, alone in the darkness. That's how I felt when she left. I could hear her screams, haunting me. I was too young, too young to experience this death. If it was another family member, my mother, my father, I wouldn't have cared, for I would have Maria. She protected me, she fed me, and she cared for me. My parents were always away from home. She was always there for me, through darkness and through the light. She was my happiness.  
But now she is gone. . . .

"Maria," I said, "that girl. . . . Mitsu. . . . she needed to be avenged too. I'm sorry."  
Then I put a bright red rose next to her gravestone, it was a small, gray tile I found somewhere in the alley. I carved it with my knife, just the name "Maria" in the nicest handwriting to my ability. I was happy with her resting place.  
It was in the backyard of our house.  
There were no graves in Duninton, due to the many killings that happen every day.

It was good. I couldn't have thought of a better place. It was far from that field, and far from the police as well. They could never disturb her here.

The rose now sat next to the gravestone, her picture, and my glasses.  
"I avenged her," I started again, "because she. . . . she never knew. . . . what happened to you. She thought that you were a villain! She thought that her father killed you with justice! And you. . . . you only did it for. . . . me."  
I started to weep. I couldn't hold back these tears.  
Every time I talked to Maria about her death, tears always poured out from my eyes, no matter how long.  
"So I, I didn't kill her. I tormented her. I stabbed her, and I stabbed her and I stabbed her. Trust me, Maria, I wanted to shoot her, but I knew it wasn't right. She was not like her father, which had killed you. So I stabbed her, and Will said, 'Demeetry, she's unconscious! Stop! If you continue, you'll kill her!' So I did stop, and once we were about to leave, we heard sirens, and I vaguely remembered what happened next. The police were all there with their batons, and they came after us. This never happened before! And they started beating us, one by one. . . ."  
I stared off into the distance in horror.  
"They made us bleed! Will would have passed out if he didn't have his gun! This never happened before! They never had the guts to stand up against us!"  
I breathed heavily. I never believed they would ever try to stop us. Why? What made them think that they had a chance against us. . . ?  
"I. . . . I felt alone, Maria, like you are in your grave. I remember my friends leaving me, telling me it was just enough with the money! How could they! For what she thought!"  
I stopped myself. I already told her this, and I knew she would be annoyed if I told her again.  
"So. . . . I killed him! No, not one my friends, but rather the police that were beating us. That's right, I pulled out my gun and shot one! And the rest all got frightened and ran away after they saw us pull out our firearms. But I still wondered how they managed to be so organized, so planned. . . . So. . . . I'm here now. In this peaceful, quiet place. . . .But. . . . I have to go. . . . Good-bye, Maria."

Then I took her photo and my glasses hurriedly, leaving the rose and Maria behind me.  
As I walked on, I slid her photo inside my jacket, and put on my glasses, the world turning blue.  
I snuck out the back way, which leads into an alley. In the darkness, I could hear the sirens. They came for me ever since I killed that one cop, which was strange because I killed many cops before, and not one dared to get me!  
The cops became more organized somehow. They found many of our hideouts, and caught many of my friends, and who knows where they are now. And they also have better firearms and more helicopters. I looked into the distance in horror, thinking of what would happen if they found me. . . .

I brought out my gun from my coat, and reloaded it, just in case.  
I looked over the wall, and saw the police driving away with their cars.  
I quickly made a run for it, sprinting across the street into the next alley.  
Then I heard a helicopter buzzing in the distance.  
I stood still, hoping it never saw me.  
The buzzing finally went away, and I headed for the secret subway entrance.  
Duninton once had subways, but they went out for a very long time, but for what reason, I don't know. But it was a perfect hideout. Not even the police know about it.  
I went through the dark alley, with nothing in the sky except smoke and fog. I finally saw a tiny light and went straight to it. It became larger as I entered the small passage.  
I heard a few gasps as I came in. I knew it was the guys watching the place.  
"Dem-dem! Demeetry!" they said, shocked.  
"Yeah. I'm here. Where is the gang?" I asked.  
They shook.  
"Um. . . . they're in there!" the large, dumb one said as he nervously pointed towards behind the subway.  
I walked through the subway and out the other side.  
There stood the pack of fools.  
They all were talking amongst themselves, they had scars on their skin and some were crippled.  
I spit on the floor and walked towards them.  
"Well well well, look who survived the cops!" I yelled at them.  
They stood there, petrified.  
"Demeetry!" one said happily as a few others hurried away. I didn't even bother shooting them. It just would waste my time.

"Demeetry!" John said, shoving through the crowd as they all faced me. "The cops are more dangerous than they were before! They are more organized-!"  
"I know!" I interrupted.  
"But. . . ." I heard from behind. I turned around and it was this dorky kid who called himself Zero. We didn't care what stupid things he did, we needed him because he got us precious information. He is ranked number two at Duninton High. Mitsu being the first.  
"Who are they being lead by is the question," he said.  
"WHO?" I screamed at him as I held his collar. It scared the crud out of him, I loved it!  
"Well. . . . according to my computer," he said, adjusting those huge, dorky glasses, "Officer Ryan Thomas. He's new to Duninton."  
"Thomas. . . ." I repeated after him.  
"I never heard of him!" someone blurted out suddenly.  
"Of course you fool! He's new to Duninton! We're not going to hear of him you idiot!" I yelled at him.  
"Oh," the dope said as he shrunk back into the crowd.  
"Go on," I told Zero.  
"That's it!" he squeaked.  
I let go of him and turned towards the crowd as he scrambled back to his computer.  
"What are we going to do?" asked Don.  
"We are going to get rid of this Officer!" I said.  
"How?" asked John.  
"We are going to kill him! If he's making the police strong, we have to put an end to it!" I announced. Inside I was shaking.  
"But we need a plan!" John clarified.  
"Oh. That's what you meant John. I always knew you were clever." I said to him.  
He rolled his eyes, and I made way for the little table in the corner. I sat in the chair, as the others stood.  
"Does anyone know a little bit about this Officer? Come on! Someone should have noticed him! Hey Zero! What does he look like?" I yelled across the room.  
The puny guy shook and typed on his computer.  
"This is him," he said as he turned the screen towards us.  
"I can't see it!" I said. "Bring it over here!"  
"Um, I can't. You see, the monitor is connected to these wires which are connected to the actual computer itself-!"  
"Hey! I think I saw him before!" Peter said as he walked over towards it.  
"You have!" I said as I ran towards the three, the crowd following me.  
"Yeah," he said pointing to his picture, "I always see him talking to that. . . . that boy who's always with Mitsu!"  
"Jake," I muttered. He is always with Jake. . . . Why?

"Listen, everyone! I have a plan!" I announced.  
"What is it?" someone asked.  
"Well, John, you're going to follow Jake after school when he goes home, and we're going to take him hostage. Then, once Officer Thomas finds out, he'll come to the rescue, and when that time comes. . . . BAM! I and Don will take him from behind! It's perfect!"  
John sighed again. He thought it was perfect as well, but he could never show it.  
"But after that, we're not killing anyone else," said John.  
"What?" I asked.  
"We have nothing left. All we need is to steal for a living. That's it! We don't need to avenge anyone for you anymore. I'm tired. I had enough. Officer Thomas. But after that, that's it!" he said as he shouldered me as he left.  
The crowd looked anxious at me.  
They agreed at him.  
". . . . Fine." I said after a long while, and the tears were almost about to come out, after thinking about Maria's own death.

The next day, our plan was set.  
We went to school, as we normally did, and once I passed John I winked at him. He winked back, but in an annoyed matter. It was going as planned.

"This. . . . this is. . . . an example. . . . of. . . . a. . . .parabola. . . ." said the teacher as she shook and pointed her stick at the graph. I didn't know what it was, but I yawned and kept looking, my gun facing towards her.  
I stared at all the kids as they tried to learn this crud. They shook when they looked at me, but they rarely did that because they were smart, they knew that I would point my gun at them next.  
"Now. . . ." the scared teacher started again, "I. . . . I have your scores. . . . on your test. . . ."  
I raised an eyebrow and sweat poured down her pale face.  
She shook as she passed the papers out, one by one.  
Once she got to me, she was breathing heavy, the paper shaking in her hand.  
I took it from her and I smiled at what I saw. A perfect hundred percent. I saw all my work, the sloppy lines on the graphs.  
"You're a great student," she said nervously smiling, "Maybe you should transfer into a different cla-"  
I pointed my gun at her again.  
"Well! No! Why would I want you to do that! You're my favorite student! A great kid!"  
Once she complained to the principal about me. The next day he wasn't there to transfer me.

"I need to leave early, teach," I said. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry."  
"Oh," she said nervously and yet relieved, "you may leave whenever you like." She forced a smile on her face.  
I got up, pointed the gun at the rest of the students. They huddled together. I laughed and said sarcastically, "I would never shoot you, you're my favorite class!"  
Then I left.

I met up with the guys outside in the hall. I lit a cigarette and put it in my mouth as I spoke to John.  
"Are you ready?" I asked him.  
He sighed and said, "When am I not?"  
I smiled and told him, "When will you ever stop sighing? It's getting on my nerves!"

We headed towards the science department, where we "collected" our binoculars for this plan. We needed to see what was going on inside just in case if John couldn't find Jake.  
We then went outside and we found a few bushes we could hide in, not too far away from the building, and just far enough that we could see through the windows with our binoculars.

I swear, though, I felt like a little kid playing "spy."  
But this was serious business. We had to get rid of Officer Thomas, if we had any hope of surviving.

We then went back inside, for it was getting cold. The wind started to pick up.  
As we went through the halls, there was this kid at his locker.  
He was tall, but puny, his arms were like bones coming out of his shirt, leading to his long fingers trying to open the lock.  
"Hey!" I whispered to Don. "Who's this kid?"  
"That's Drew Nitro. He's a transfer student from-!" I didn't let John finish. That was enough.  
"HEY!" I yelled at the boy as I banged against the wall of lockers.  
He said nothing and looked at his locker, his face emotionless.  
"Hey, are you new here?" I asked him in his face.  
He said nothing.  
"You don't talk!" I told him. "You're a strange one!" I laughed and spit on him.  
"What are you doing?" Peter asked, "Let's go!"  
"Oh, I just wanna play with this one for a while," I said, still smiling at the kid.  
He got his locker to open, and once he did, I slammed it as hard I could.

It flung back towards me. That kid blocked it with his hand! He then grabbed a few books, and then I slammed it. The wall of lockers shook, but the kid didn't even flinch.  
My eyes twitched as he gave me this. . . . disgusting glare. It was like he wasn't the slightest bit interested in me.  
"HEY!" I yelled at him as he walked off.  
I couldn't let him get away!  
I ran to him and took him by the collar and slammed him on the lockers, shaking them again.  
I smiled. I knew that he would be at least a little bit scared.  
"Hey, you answer me when I talk to you. Are you new here?" I asked.

He smiled.  
My eye twitched again! Who is this freak?  
"Yes, I am. And you are in my way," he said in a soft, cold tone.  
"Wha?" I sneered at him. "I'm in your WAY?!"  
I had enough. It was time I showed this guy what I could really do.  
I pulled a punch on him.

My hand started to hurt. It made a mark on the locker, and Drew's head was right next to it, eying my fist, annoyed.  
"You missed," he said.  
"NO! YOU MOVED!" I yelled.  
"You missed," he repeated.  
I gnashed my teeth.  
"You're in my way," he said.  
This gone too far!  
I pulled out my gun and pointed it at his head, and a few of the guys looked shocked, and I heard a few say, "What are you doing Demeetry?"  
And there he looked at me, that stupid kid. He looked annoyed as ever.  
I nudged the gun at his forehead.  
"You know what would happen to you if I just simply pulled the trigger?!" I spit at him.  
He said nothing, and a smile crept slowly on that mug.

My finger slowly pulled on the trigger, feeling like it was going to slip on the soft surface.  
"DON'T KILL HIM!" yelled John.  
I turned only my head, determined to not let Drew go from my grip.  
"You promised us that the only one we'd kill is that Officer! Let go of the kid and let's go!" John said.  
"Yes, listen to him, and let go of me," Drew said in that annoying tone.  
"WATCH IT!" I yelled at him and pressed the gun harder on his forehead.  
"Watch it," he parroted.  
Then I burst. I quickly slid the gun back into my coat and used both of my hands to choke him. He flinched a little but he kept smiling.  
"STOP SMILING!" I ordered him as I threw him to the floor and kicked and spat on him, his books lying across the hallway.  
I looked at my friends, who just stared at me. Normally, they would help me, but now they stood there like fools.  
I ignored them and kept kicking him.

He then started laughing.  
"What's so funny you dip shit?" I asked him as I kicked him in his sensitive spot.  
He kept laughing manically as he brought out something from behind him.  
I kicked him more, just in case it was a gun, but he had enough strength to bring whatever it was out. . . .

It was Maria.

My eyes widened. The picture of Maria was tinted blue, sitting in his pale hands. How did he get that?  
"GIVE THAT BACK!" I screamed.  
I reached out to save her, but I let my guard down.  
I felt his leg trip me and I fell to the ground. My friends still just stood there, waiting for the fight to be over.  
Drew got up. "Oh?" he said in a higher tone. "You care for her? Well, that's good."  
Then he brought her in the air. "Then say good-bye!" he said in a suddenly hoarse, cruel, malicious tone.

Maria.  
She fell to the floor and broke into pieces.

I held back the tears and crawled to her and picked up her pieces. Maria. . . .  
I'm going to kill him for what he did to Maria!  
"It's time for you to go permanently! No time for games!" I yelled at him as I got up and charged after him.  
"No! Don't!" I heard my friends say as they held my arms.  
"Let go of me! He broke Maria!" I yelled at them.  
"The bell is going to ring," said Peter, "come on, let's go!"

And they dragged me out as I stared at Drew, he snickered at me and walked off. I swear I'm going to kill him.  
John walked off in the other direction. But, I thought, at least I will do good for my crew by getting rid of the Officer.

So the plan executed. We hid in the bushes, looking through the binoculars, and with our cell phones ready, just in case John runs into a problem.  
Through the window we saw the spiked haired boy. Good. All we now needed to see is John following him.  
Jake bumped into him!  
We all laughed and kept watching.  
Everything is going according to plan. . . .

"Wait!" Don said.  
"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"He got stopped. . . . by Drew!" he said nervously.  
"Are you sure?" I asked in anger, making sure he's not teasing me.  
"Well, kinda, he quickly brought out his gun on him, but he's just. . . . smiling."  
"Forget it! But is he still following Jake?"  
"Yeah."

Then, I saw him exit the top floor. I gave everyone the signal and we walked casually in front of the school, leaving the binoculars behind.  
BEEP! BEEP!  
I picked up my cell phone.  
"John?" I asked.  
"Everything is good, but it's going to take a while for him to be alone. Just meet me at the rendezvous."  
"Are you sure? Right now?"  
"Wait for me," he said and hung up.

I sighed and turned to my crowd.  
"Let's go," I said, assuming they knew to go to the rendezvous.  
We ran into the alleys across the street of the school.  
We ran through the darkness swiftly, talking along the way.  
"So, Demeetry, we're going to take the Officer from behind right?" Don whispered.  
"Yeah, once we have Jake captured, we'll bring him to the subway, and we'll wait in the alley for the police to come, while the rest hold out on them until the Officer comes. Then, we'll take him from behind, and well, let's just assume that the rest, without their 'mighty Officer Thomas' to protect them, they'll run and we'll be back on top again," I whispered as we finally reached the destination.  
It was darker than any other alley, and smaller too, but it was good because we could see everything through this tiny hole between two large, abandoned buildings.  
"Peter, you stay here and watch while we go into the building and watch from the window," I ordered.  
He nodded and he stayed to keep watch, and we went around the corner.

There stood that damn Drew.

"What are you doing here? Here to say sorry?" I yelled at him and he did the usual. He just stood there emotionless, and the smile slowly spread across his face.  
"Why are you after Jake?" he asked.  
We said nothing. We gave him the silent treatment as he did with us.  
"Why are you after Jake?" he demanded, a little more ticked.  
"Why are you after Jake?" I parroted. I was about to laugh, this was too great.

Then he pulled out a gun.  
My gang pulled out theirs, and I didn't do anything and walked towards him.  
"What makes you think we're going to KILL him?" I asked, walking closer as he stood stiff, pointing his gun at me, and saying nothing.  
"We're not going to kill him," I said, "we're just simply going to 'borrow' him, for a little while. Why are you so determined to keep him alive?"  
"I'm afraid. . . . that is none of your business," he said as his finger played around the trigger.

Then he shot.

"You missed," I yelled at him as I ran through the alley, and pulled my gun out and started shooting back at him.  
I swear I saw his eyes twitch and he took cover behind the building we were supposed to watch in.  
I completely forgot about our plan and was enjoying the fight.  
Behind the one wall I reloaded. I just wasted a bunch of bullets running down the alley. Then I got up and ran to the building.  
I ran past the guys and said hi. They looked confused as I did and they held their fire.  
"Come on! It's not going to take all of you to shoot one puny dude!" I yelled at them as I ran.  
I burst into the building and yelled at them, "Go in here and watch for John with Jake! Be right back!"  
They looked at each other and followed my orders.  
I went around the block and found him reloading.  
"Gotcha!" I yelled as I smiled and shot.  
He ran and of course he shot back, but I kept running at him, giving everything I got. He then got scared as I ran closer and straight at him, dodging all the bullets that came out of his pistol, so he turned around and ran through the alleys. I chased him and we were back at the building again.  
Drew ran and hid, and I did the same, for I had to reload again.  
"Damn! I'm wasting them so carelessly. How is he so experienced?" I said to myself as I heard something ring.  
In my coat, I brought out the cell phone.  
I looked over the wall to see if Drew came, and it was clear, but I had to keep watch.  
"John?" I answered, still watching.  
It was fuzzy, but I could still hear what he was saying.  
"Hey Demeetry! Jake is over there! He's just on the other side of the building! What should we-!"  
"Sorry John! Gotta go!" I said and hung up.

I got up and shot Drew unexpectedly, although, he was already running, and we shot and shot, past buildings and through the alleys. And a few from the building came and tried getting him too.  
We ran and ran and we barely noticed where we were anymore.  
I finally paid attention and saw a car drive by.

The fight came to the street.  
I wanted to go back into the alley, but I had to dodge Drew from behind the car.  
I heard someone scream and run out, but I ignored it and from behind it I shot Drew again. He then started running across the street towards me.  
I looked forwards to see no alleys ahead of me.  
I cursed and I got up and ran to the left, knowing that Drew would come from the right, and hoping to get back into the alleys.  
I ran and in front of me, a car swerved, and it was black and white, had blinking lights, and made a loud noise.

I stood there, petrified, but my senses finally got to me and ran around the car and shot the bumper as a warning.  
Once I got into the alley, I looked to the right and there Drew was running and once he noticed me, he started to shoot. He had the look of a mad dog on his face, which was different than what he normally had.  
Then, once we past a building, his face drastically changed, it was a huge smile on his face and his eyes widened with malice.  
"YOU WANNA PLAY? I'LL SHOW YOU PLAY!" I screamed as I ran into the alley that he was in.  
He looked surprised and turned around. He must have stopped when I said that, or he was running behind.  
As I chased him down the alley and we both stopped.

There stood a large, old policeman reloading his gun. He narrowed his eyes and smiled.  
And John stood right behind him, looking confused at the situation.  
"JOHN!" I yelled in a hurry. "WHERE'S JAKE?!"  
He looked down and said, "He was with a girl the whole time."  
And then his face changed and pointed his gun at the policeman.  
"But now it's pointless to get Jake now. . . ." he said, smiling.  
"I agree!" I said, pointing my gun at him too.  
The man looked at both of us, but his expression didn't change.  
"Officer Thomas. Ever since you came here, the cops actually started to become a threat to us. Good job, I applaud your efforts. But with you gone, they won't be anymore," I said as I played a little with the trigger.  
"Why," he said, pulling out two guns and pointing them at each of us, still smiling, interested, "I won't let you get away, Demeetry, when you are worth so much. I've been wanting to catch you this whole time. And I can hardly live off of what I get right now."  
Drew finally spoke.  
". . . . Ryan?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"  
Officer Thomas looked at him, surprised. He didn't even know he was there.  
"Drew?" he asked, just as surprised as he.  
"Stay away from Jake!" he said angrily, pointing his gun at him, "He will never let out the secret!"

They talked more of this nonsense and I couldn't take any more of it. They both had to die. Drew, for what he did to Maria and I, and Officer Thomas, if my gang and I have any hope of surviving.  
I shot at the Officer first, and he shot at us as he dodged it. John and I kept towards the right of the alleys, and Drew ran with us too, and he was shooting at Officer Thomas. And then we just watched as the two fought, and then Drew noticed that we were behind him, and he gave us a glare and shot at us.  
We jumped back and we ran and shot him as he joined the Officer.  
We ran through the alley ways, and we bumped into one of the members.  
"RUN!" John told him but he stood there confused, but not for long when he got shot by the Officer and collapsed.  
John ran up towards the Officer and shot him, while I dealt with Drew.  
Drew then saw the Officer behind him and he started to shoot him.

Why did he keep changing sides?  
This went on and on, and I could tell that John was starting to get bored.  
"Man, let's just quit and let those two shoot themselves!" he said as we reloaded.  
"No, I have to get Drew. He broke Maria-"  
"Let it go, Demeetry. This goes on for far too long. She's dead! There's nothing you can do about it!"  
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE, TO HAVE ONE THAT YOU LOVE TH MOST DIE HORRIBLY AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"  
He jumped. He almost got shot by a flying bullet from Drew and Thomas' fight.  
"Listen-" he started but was cut off when Drew joined the Officer again and shot us.  
I ran and hid behind another wall to catch my breath from yelling.

"Over," I heard Thomas say.  
Then I heard buzzing. A horrid, deafening buzzing. I have never heard anything like it before.  
I looked up and saw a black shadow in the pink sky. A helicopter was hovering over the alleys.

I immediately ran towards the building, and John must have heard it too, and was right behind me, covering me.  
And when we got there. I burst in.  
"Forget the watch! Come out here and help us get Officer Thomas!" I yelled.  
"We know," Peter said sadly, "there are police cars everywhere. Look!"  
I looked out the window. And what he said was true; all the cars were there, surrounding the alleys.  
I cursed and kicked the wall.  
"Let's go!" I yelled. "We have nothing to lose!"  
They all looked terrified but followed, because they knew it was the truth.  
The police were surrounding the building, and Officer Thomas stood there in front of them, smiling.

"Well well well," he said, as well all stopped in shock. "It's about time you surrendered."  
"We will never surrender to you!" I yelled as we all shot at once.  
The fight continued for about an hour and we weren't holding up too well.  
"What are you doing?" I yelled as some tried to escape. "You wanna die?"  
But even I knew it was hopeless, but I didn't want to accept it. We needed to live! I needed to live, for Maria!

The fight continued and a lot of us were gone, either shot or fled. And it was John, I, and a few others. Don was shot and Peter ran away.  
As we took cover in the building, John said, "Look. We're losing. Let's go so we can make another plan some other day, or even if that's too dangerous, we can leave. My grandma has a place not too far from here, but it's not considered to be in Duninton. It's nice and peaceful there. They won't find us there!"  
"And just retreat?" I spat. "So. This is it, after all that we went through. All the people that we killed. After Maria-!"  
"Maria's not here anymore!" he said as he shook me. "She was gone, a long time ago, when you were a little kid! She's not ever coming back! Never!"

Tears started forming in my eyes at the thought.  
"Come on, Demeetry. It's not just me. The others want to go too," he said as the others shook their heads.  
"Let's go," he begged.

"NO!" I yelled as I fled.

I ran. I ran through the bullets, I ran through everything. I was running home. Back to my house. . . .  
"Welcome home, Demeetry," Maria always greeted me when I came back home from school.  
I burst through the small, brown house.  
I looked down and saw my parents. They were there for a long time, they didn't deserve to be buried. They just rotted there, with bugs eating their decomposed bodies. My father laid facing down with his head turned to the side, away from me. He always hated me, even after death. And my mother, who had hair just like Maria, laid face down, her hair covering her face. She was always too busy to take care of me. I never really knew what she was really like. . . .  
But I killed them, no matter how hard I thought I didn't. I killed them.  
It was one night they both came home. . . .  
"Hey son!" my mother said. "How are you doing? Where's Maria?"  
"Gone," I said.  
"Gone? Gone where?" my mother said casually.  
"Gone forever," I repeated.  
"Maybe she ran away because she never liked a troublesome boy like you!" my father laughed.  
I gnashed my teeth and my eyes twitched.  
"What's wrong?" my mother asked.  
"WHAT'S WRONG?!" I screamed at her. "YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOR FIVE YEARS! MARIA IS GONE AND I WAS HERE ALL ALONE FOR FOUR YEARS! AND YOU, YOU NEVER CALLED, NEVER ANSWERED! AND THE YEARS BEFORE THEN I WAS ONLY TAKEN CARE OF BY WHO? MARIA! SHE TOOK CARE OF ME EVERY DAY WHILE YOU WORKED AND WHEN YOU CAME HOME YOU JUST IGNORED US! YOU NEVER CARED FOR US-!"  
She brought out her hand and slapped me.  
"Don't scream at us!" she yelled at me. "And now where's Maria?"  
"DEAD!" I screamed.  
". . . . Somehow I don't believe that," my father said.  
That's when I brought out my gun and shot him.  
"SHE IS DEAD! GO LOOK IN THE BACKYARD! SHE IS IN HER GRAVE, AND NO, YOU'RE NOT JOINING HER THERE! YOU WILL ROT HERE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!"  
My mother brought out her hand again to grab the gun away from me, but I wouldn't let her. I shot her too.

And they never moved from those spots.  
I walked past them carelessly towards Maria's room.  
I remembered when we played in her room. I could see the young us, playing around, having fun.  
"She will never come back! Never!" I remembered John say, and I vomited on the floor.

I then quickly tore Maria's photo off the wall and hugged it.  
"Maria," I whispered as I clung onto her.

Those words that John said haunted me. I could never get them out of my head.  
I ran to the backyard, and saw Maria.

It brought relief to my heart. I sighed and sat down besides the withered rose.  
I stared at her picture, and seeing that she was all blue, I took my glasses off and set them aside.  
"Maria," I said, "I will always remember the day he killed you. . . ."  
It was like yesterday, once I was playing in the crop field like I always did, and the men chased me and said they would kill me if I ever came there again. I cried and told Maria about it.  
I should have never told her.  
"I told you never to go there, but you keep doing it! If you go there again, now you'll get killed!" she said sadly.  
"I'm sorry," I told her.  
"Tomorrow, I'm going to see the boss of these people, I'm going to tell him that you're never going to enter their fields ever again, and to leave you alone. You promise not to go there again, right?"  
"I promise!" I said, clinging onto her.  
"Good, and if I never come back. . . ."  
I glared up at her.  
"Never come back. . . ?"  
"I doubt that will happen," she said, "But if it does, I want you to call our parents and if they don't answer like they normally do, I want you to get out of here. Never come back to this house again, you hear! They'll find you! I want you to tell your teachers at school what happened and maybe they'll find a safe place for you ok?"  
She looked fine when I talked to her, but when we went to sleep that night, I heard her cry. I didn't bother asking her what was wrong, because I was too scared that she might never come back.

Then that fateful day came. . . .  
I came home from school.  
"Maria?" I called. I looked everywhere in the house, and she wasn't in there.  
Then, I figured she was at the field with the man.  
I ran there and when I did. . . .

I found her lying there, dead, and her dress was torn and I knew that she was gone.  
"That evil girl is dead," a hoarse voice said behind me. I turned around to see a tough looking man there, with blood stained on his hoe.  
"Why? WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!" I yelled as I wept.  
"She wanted to help you. . . . and I can't let that happen," he said as he brought the hoe down, and I thought it would have killed me, but I quickly moved out of the way.  
"You're a fast one!" he said as he tried to get me again.  
"The police! They'll find out what you did and catch you!" I yelled.  
". . . . You're wrong," he said, "The police don't care here. They don't do anything here! I would be surprised if they even found out she was dead!"  
I glared at him as he laughed and walked off.  
I looked at the ground in anger and Maria laid there, her eyes wide open in shock.  
I yelled at him, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"  
He turned around. "What?"  
"When I'm older, I will get weapons. I will get weapons and friends. And we will form a group. We will be the new police of Duninton. We will bring justice to this city! Then, I will kill you!"  
"Heh," he said, uninterested, "I doubt that day will come."  
Then he turned around and just kept walking.

I then dragged Maria's body into the backyard and buried it. I set her picture besides it and wept for days.  
I thought that if I told the teachers, they would send me away to a far place, or they won't let me get my hands on some weapons. So I stayed home, and never told anyone except John. He was the first friend I ever had besides Maria. After I told him about what happened to Maria, and how I was going to have a group get revenge on the man who killed her, he didn't agree at first but when I said I needed to steal for a living, he helped me by getting other guys to help me. He offered me to come live with him but I declined for the same reason as telling the teachers.  
Then slowly those guys, John, and I formed a gang and the others got us guns and we had to try using them and we stole from the dead. Once the police found out and came after us, they were no match for us. We shot them all, and the rest, they were too frightened to step up to us. Ever since then, we had power.  
I thought of John, and how I left him. I had no choice, I had to see Maria again!

Then I cried.

I finally heard a bang on the door. It was the police.  
I sat there in terror, staring into the distance. What if they caught me? Would I die because what I did to all the people I killed?  
There's no way that's going to happen!

It's not going to end with the police punishing me. I was already punished.  
I was punished when Maria died.

I heard them get past the door. They were inside the house, seeing my parents probably.  
"Well Maria, I started, I'm really glad to say. . . . I will finally see you again," I said as tears rolled down my cheeks, but I smiled.

The police got past the room. They're searching in our rooms probably by now.  
"Maria, I loved you more than anyone else in the world. . . . I love you. . . ."

"DON'T MOVE!" I heard one say as he got out here.  
I smiled and stared at Maria. I knew she was happy, and she was proud of me, no matter what crimes I committed.

"DON'T MOVE AND YOU'LL NOT BE HURT!" I heard him yell.

"Thank you, Maria, for being at my side, and now I will join you."

"DON'T MOVE!"

"I love you. . . . Maria," I said, sliding the gun out of my coat.

"DROP THE GUN!"

I pointed it at my head and before I knew it. . . .

. . . . darkness. . . .

. . . . I love you. . . . Maria. . . .


End file.
